Love in the Time of Zombies
by Sinisterhug
Summary: Ruby finally has a chance with a pretty girl; too bad it was because of a car crash caused by a zombie apocalypse. Love is never easy, especially when the rest of the world wants to eat you. White Rose, Bumblebee, and zombies!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A shrill shriek pierced through the sounds of the apocalypse that filled the cool morning air. The sounds of fire, car alarms, inexplicable spraying water and the incessant moans of the walking dead were all drowned out by the scream of a young heiress pushing the pedal of her fabulous BMW coupe convertible to the floor for the first time. She always had the horsepower, but never the opportunity.

"Woo!" she belted.

The small suburban homes went whizzing by as she went silent. She reached over and turned her stereo all the way up; she was blasting her favorite CD. Weiss was pissed off and tired. She had spent the last two days holed up in her room, listening to the constant pounding and the endless moan of her former servants bashing on her door. Weiss knew that the help always wanted to kill her, and thanks to this disease they really were going to. She never would have built up the courage to leap from her window if the hunger hadn't got the better of her.

A quick dart across the lawn to her car got her away from the Schnee Estate. For the first time in her life she engorged herself on junk food at the local gas station. The little snack cakes were much tastier than she feared they'd be, but most still didn't measure up to the five star desserts her private chef made. But that guy was busy trying to scrape his way into her room, so she knew she had to make due.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, letting her ponytail whip in the wind. It felt unbelievably good to go that fast. Even with the world collapsing around her, she couldn't help but think that nothing in life was better than fast cars– but she had to admit Twinkies were amazing.

It is of course very inadvisable to drive with your eyes shut. Her eyes shot open when she heard crunch that sent a zombie rolling across the side of her car. She quickly cranked the wheel, but she was already out of control when she clipped a park car and was sent into a spin.

Her whole body jerked as she came to a stop. She had never suffered an injury her entire life and couldn't believe just how much her neck hurt. The only other thought running through her head was that her daddy was right– she should have bought a nice, safe sedan with some side curtain airbags. It seemed silly that the dead walking around and trying to eat her but her closest brush to death so far was from a car.

The smell of smoke burned her nostrils and choked her lungs. The car had stopped spinning the world hadn't. Weiss could barely tell what was happening, but she knew that she had to get out of the car. It took several tries for her to release her seatbelt because it seemed to teeter totter away from her. When she finally got herself free, she pushed her body against the door. It sent a jolt of pain up her spine and into her head that she just realized was throbbing.

She glanced over the door, and even in the odd milky haze that had pervaded the world she could see her door was pinned against a mailbox.

Her primary focus was still escaping the car, so she crawled over the console and pried open the passenger door. Her attempt to crawl out was met with disaster and she spilled out onto the hard asphalt. She hissed and pressed a hand to her knee as she rolled onto her back. Then she saw it.

There was a moment she was just staring into its eyes before it even registered what it was. A gaping, drooling maw hung over her face and the stench of death wafted down over her. As it dropped down she let out an ear shattering shriek so loud that she couldn't hear the loud pop, the stomach sickening sound of shattering bone, or the splatter of blood as it fell to the road.

Weiss continued to scream for a few moments when the once again lifeless body fell on top of her. After a few moments the dead weight was pulled off and she could hear a shushing noise. She finally relaxed, staring up at a pair of reassuring gray eyes. A hand was extended; she took it and was pulled up off the ground with a grunt.

Weiss found herself face to face with a short, redheaded girl. Her rescuer gave her a cute smile before shushing her again. "Let's get off the road, more will be coming," she whispered.

Weiss nodded, struggling to walk.

The other girl stepped closer and slung Weiss's arm over her shoulder. "I've got you." the redhead glanced around and squeezed tighter.

Weiss's eyes finally settled and she realized there were three undead barely more than an arm's length away. She felt herself lifted off her feet and her body hefted oddly. She was swept off her feet so quick she instinctively shot her arms out to stabilize herself and found them wrapped around the back of the other girl's neck.

The girl smiled. "Let's get out of here."

Weiss was shocked to suddenly be being carried like a newlywed bride, but was a little more surprised that the girl only took off in a brisk walk. "Shouldn't we be going a little faster?" Weiss glanced back and saw that their attackers had barely even managed to turn to chase them.

"They aren't exactly quick, and you're not exactly light."

"What was that!" Weiss nearly screamed.

"Nothing, nothing, and shush. They react to sound."

"How dare you! I am as light as a feather! There is not an ounce of fat on me!"

"I didn't mean it like that, now be quiet." The girl ignored her and focused on the path in front of them, setting Weiss down at the door of a nearby home. "Let's get inside."

Weiss finally relaxed when the door closed behind her. She finally took a good look at her rescuer. The girl was a little shorter than herself and probably a year or two younger. She had a cute round face that was still childish; it didn't really go well with the blood splattered on it. It did match the bloody little pick axe thing and the redwood hunting rifle slung over her shoulder. The girl stuck her hand out. "My name is Ruby."

"Weiss Schnee," she responded. She just stood staring at Ruby, who was smiling at her, despite the situation. "Is this your home?"

"No, I was just passing through when you blew past me and crashed. But before you get comfy, I'm going to make sure we're alone."

* * *

"I found an antibiotic for your knee," Ruby said as she finally strode back into the room. She smiled at the silver-haired girl that she had just rescued.

Ruby thought Weiss was the coolest, prettiest girl she had ever seen. She was so cute, even with the bad-ass looking scar that ran over her left eye. She also had a sweet car, even if she didn't seem like the best driver.

Weiss had her arms crossed, and was sitting on the arm of the couch in the living room. "I forgot to say it earlier. Thank you, for rescuing me."

"Oh of course, not like I could just leave you there. That was some accident. So, um, this may sting." Ruby leaned down, examining the girl's knee. There were some scrapes, so she began to spray the antibiotic on. One of her hands slid behind the Weiss's leg. Ruby hadn't handled a lot of fine things, with the way her life had always been. She didn't have anything she could compare Weiss's skin to; all she knew is it sent weird tingles through her and she wanted to touch it more. "Uh– uhm– is anything else hurt?"

"My neck is sore. I think I'm just a little shaken." Once Ruby was finished, Weiss popped off the couch and started to walk around the room.

Ruby walked over to the window and just barely peeled the curtain back. Weiss's car was crashed next to a burning building, and the stereo was still blaring some terrible pop music. There were at least twenty zombies piling into it. "Yeah, they're attracted to sound. They're all over your car."

Weiss darted over and looked out too. She released a deep groan. "They're going to get their disgusting zombie juices all over my car's interior."

"Yeah, I don't think it's going anywhere anyway."

Weiss sighed and walked away from the window with a grimace.

Ruby watched the other girl as she took long strides around the room. One foot fell in front of the other giving her body a cute little wiggle. She held her hands together behind her back and drawn into a slight stretch that made her chest stick out a little. There wasn't a lot there, but the stance made the lines of her body stand out. _'Bad __girl__, don't stare.'_

"How tacky." Weiss said, "I'd fire whatever decorator created this disaster" she added, prodding at an ugly, neon green ceramic owl.

"I don't think they had one," Ruby said, her eyes darting around the room. Everything matched with the little owl, which didn't exactly create a pleasant atmosphere. But she considered the place homely; sure the knick knacks were odd and the furniture was old and worn, but they were there. Her own home was always bare and empty.

"Well they should get one," Weiss responded while putting her hands on her hips.

"Honestly don't think they care so much anymore."

Ruby gulped when Weiss stopped, turned, and appeared to begin to examine her. She was admiring the older girl's body before; she wasn't sure how she missed those gorgeous pale blue eyes. It felt like she was a child again, sitting on the high branch of a tree and staring up at a clear blue sky while a soft spring breeze cooled her skin. They had an odd effect on Ruby. She involuntarily began to bite at her lip and rub her knees together.

"How does a girl like you learn to use that," Weiss finally asked, pointing at the rifle.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Ruby swung the rifle about, holding it in a firm grip. "My uncle taught me how to shoot. He– he is a firm believer that the world is going to end. Bit of a nut, but he was a good hunter. He always took me and my sister on hunting trips, especially since I started living with him."

"That's just plain weird."

Ruby furrowed her brow and glared at the girl. "Not really, the world _is_ ending– and look who's prepared," she said pointing a thumb at herself.

"I don't– huh. I guess you're right. So you know all about this survival stuff?"

"Yes," Ruby smiled, getting a little excited to explain to the pretty older girl all the awesome skills she had. "I can hunt and trap, start fires, camp, build survival shelters, track in forests, climb," she pulled out and pointed to her climbing axe for a moment. "I've also watched every zombie movie known to man."

"So you didn't have a life?"

'_Okay,'_ she drew out in her own mind, _'I guess she isn't impressed.'_ Ruby shook her head. "Huh? What, no, I just told you, I've been learning all of those things."

"Yeah, but that isn't the same as having a life." Weiss sat back down in the couch and crossed her legs. "Why don't you put those survival skills to work and hunt down something for us to eat."

The girl was pretty, but she was rude. Ruby huffed, but turned away and headed for the kitchen anyway. There were a few cans of this and that and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. She would make sure to take with her when she left. She settled for her second favorite food.

A few minutes later, Ruby emerged with two bowls of beans. "Fresh out of the can."

Weiss took the bowl, lifting a spoonful and letting it drop back down. "Gross."

Ruby already had a mouthful of beans and made a muffled hum. She took a deep swallow then coughed. "What?"

"Do you really eat things like this?"

"Well yeah, almost always. My uncle only ever kept canned food around." The enthusiasm finally dropped from Ruby's voice.

Weiss just watched her cautiously. "Sorry. I am grateful. I'm not sure what I would be doing on my own." She took a couple bites and then began to dig into the food, all but shoveling it into her mouth.

"Whoa. I thought you didn't like baked beans."

Weiss took a few deep breaths, looking embarrassed for a moment before nodding. "I can't say that I do, I've never had them before. They were fine. Actually I was trapped in my room for two days; I stopped for some food at a gas station but I haven't eaten anything substantial."

"Oh. I would have gotten you something earlier if you had told me." Ruby hesitated, but then laid her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"You're sort of annoying," Weiss said as she stared at the hand, her voice as blunt as her words, "But I can't thank you enough. I guess it still hasn't registered how close I came to dying."

"Um, you're welcome?" Ruby sat nervously for a moment. This girl was rude, caustic, occasionally nice, and completely lost in this new world; the part of her that always made her attempt to help people in need couldn't just leave her alone. "Where are you headed?"

"I was going into the city; my dad works there."

They were still in the surrounding suburbs of Vale City. Heading into the city proper took an hour or two. Probably less at the pace she had been going. But Ruby had gone in and checked to see if any military evacuation sites were set up. It looked like everything happened too fast for there to be any response.

"Oh, you can't go there, I checked it out already with my binoculars. It's a death trap. Way too many people in way too small a space."

"Oh." Weiss squeezed her hands together.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, I just– it's dangerous. But I'm sure your father is fine."

"Yeah, he works on the top floor and has a helicopter. I'm sure he got out fine." Weiss took a deep sigh and dropped her head. Her legs splayed out a little as she sunk into the couch. "I just didn't know where else to go or what else to do."

"I'm– I'm heading out of town. It's generally safer to get far away from urban places, and I need to find my sister. She was working as a counselor at a summer camp out in Forever Fall. Would you– would you like to come with me?"

"Sure. I have nothing else to do."

Weiss finally smiled at Ruby, and the young girl found it easy to get lost in her eyes. They were deep and Ruby felt like they betrayed a thoughtfulness that the girl's words and actions didn't.

Ruby smiled back. _'Oh crap. I have a crush on her.'_ Ruby hesitated a moment before sitting down beside her. "So we're going to have to head out. I can probably handle anything we run into on my own, but do you know how to use any weapons?"

Weiss looked at her like she had said the dumbest thing in the world. "No, I'm a _normal_ girl."

"Hey! I'm normal too. I just– I know a few extra things and have a few extra skills." Ruby bit her lip. _'And I'm gay.'_

"I guess– I can fence. Would that work?"

Ruby glanced around the room, then popped off the couch and came back with a fireplace stoker. "Can you use this?"

Weiss took it, gripping it between her thumb and forefinger like it was a dirty diaper. After a few moments, she gripped it in her hand and gave it a few thrusts. "It's not exactly the same, but I can probably take one out, right?"

Ruby shrugged and then walked out of the room. She quietly opened the front door, strode across the lawn, and tapped a nearby zombie on the shoulder. Walking backward, she led it back into the room.

"What the hell are you doing!"

"I thought we'd make sure that would work," Ruby said.

"You brought one of those things in here– oh eww, eww, eww. He's missing an eye! You couldn't have found a less ugly one?"

Weiss's voice was shrill and loud. Ruby wasn't even sure why she was crushing on this girl. She was an annoying spoiled brat. She shook her head as she continued to walk the zombie in a circle.

"I got the closest one. Just shut up and kill it!"

"This is a stupid idea! Do you realize how unsafe this is?"

"Please, I did this like six times to test out my weapons," Ruby said, patting her axe. "Just do it already, I can't keep away forever."

"You're only walking, I'd hope you can do that for awhile. It's your own fault for not thinking things through!"

"I've thought it through plenty!"

"Clearly not, we were safe until you lead this thing back in here."

"Weiss just stab him!"

The girl rolled her eyes and took a lunge, jabbing it right in the zombie's good eye with a squelching noise. Weiss shrieked and let go of the stoker and it went down still stuck in the zombie. "Gross, gross, gross! I didn't mean to stab it there!"

"It works!" Ruby said, putting her foot on the zombie's face and jerking the stoker out. She held it up, and Weiss took it with a grimace. "Oh, I've got something else here."

Ruby dug into the tiny satchel hanging on her hip and pulled out a little snub nose revolver. "Now– I almost don't want to give you this after _that_. It's for emergencies only, too much noise. But if you're going to shriek every time it won't make a difference."

"Thanks, now this is better." Weiss dropped the heavy iron bar and took the gun. She gripped it quickly in one hand and held it out like she was going to fire. "Bang."

Ruby's lips twisted. She bumped Weiss's arm into the proper posture, grabbed the girls free hand and lifted it up to brace the weapon properly. "I'll clean it for you and manage the ammo, at least until you can do it yourself. Uh, it'll be hard to aim. I'd say you should probably just wait til you can put it against their head."

"It's a gun, I think I can figure it out." The girl said, dropping her arms and putting one up onto her hip as she jutted it out.

Ruby rolled her eyes. The girl was probably going to get her killed. And for some reason she just couldn't leave her behind. _'Because you like her, you idiot.'_

* * *

**A/N: Zombies are one of my favorite things, and I've always wanted to write something with them. The RWBY girls seem like the perfect bunch of survivors for a zombie apocalypse. But I've only ever written romance, so you get a romantic comedy with zombies and a tsundere. What else could you possibly want? Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"So we're agreed. We're going to call them zeke. Zekes in the plural."

"No, you're not even listening. We're just going to call them zombies." Weiss rolled her eyes as they continued to walk slowly along the side of a suburban road.

As they moved further from the dense population center of Vale City, the air became quieter and the smell of rotting flesh became more washed out by the smell of smoke and fire on the air. The two went long stretches before running into any– they still hadn't decided on a name– on the roads.

"But you never call them zombies when zombies are actually around. It's always something like walkers or zekes or zeds."

Weiss watched the way Ruby moved her hands– or more like her whole arms– as she talked. The white-haired girl trailed a few steps back from the other, letting Ruby dispatch the occasional ghoul that crossed their path.

"I don't care what they do in the movies, they're zombies." She gestured towards a car in the road. "That's a car." She gestured towards a fire hydrant. "That's a hydrant." She gestured towards the zombie right behind her. "That's a zombie." She took a few steps before doing a double take.

Ruby pushed past her and planted her axe into its skull. "But you just don't do it," she said as she nonchalantly jerked her weapon back out. "You need to weaken them in your mind. You know, mind over matter." She made some animated karate chopping motions in the air, drawing a huff from the other girl.

"You are so childish. You don't need to weaken them. They can barely move," Weiss said, pointing at a few off the side of the road that had just barely started to react to their presence.

"You're impossible," Ruby responded, leading them off of the main road.

Eventually the two came up to an imposing stone building. The front was lined with tall white columns, and Weiss's eyes scanned over them. She lived fairly close but had never been to this part of town; it housed libraries, bookstores, and the museum she found herself standing in front of.

"Bet we can find you a good sword in here."

Weiss nodded and the two climbed the stairs and pushed through the heavy oak doors. They froze as the doors thudded closed behind them. At least thirty zombies ceased their aimless shuffling, turning slowly towards the two dumbstruck girls. There was a moment while the zombies stared at them, not yet having reacted. Then they moaned into the air; Ruby and Weiss could feel it shaking through their body as it echoed around the high ceilings and cold marble floors.

"Wow. This was a terrible idea."

Ruby shrugged and glanced around the room. "Ah– um– I've never actually seen this many people here. Zombies must like museums more than humans. Go figure."

"They're too boring for people with functioning brains." Weiss walked over to the directory, striding right past a few zombies. She bent over and began to look over the map.

"But I like museums."

"So, where would it be?"

"Up here," Ruby said. She hopped up on the counter, then grabbed onto the massive aquatic dinosaur that hung from the ceiling. She climbed up, sending it swinging and careening.

"What do you think you're doing!"

"Getting to the second floor. I've always wanted to do this." Ruby climbed higher and higher. She began to lean forward and back, causing the bones to swing like a pendulum.

"Do you ever think anything through?" Weiss asked from the ground, jumping over the information desk. Her eyes darted around as the zombies began to get too close for comfort.

"Yes, I've thought of doing this tons of times," Ruby said as she swung through the air. After building enough moment, she leapt off of the exhibit, flying across the gap and over the railing on the second floor. "Okay," Ruby said as she dusted herself off. "Your turn!"

"Not a chance in hell!"

"It's not that hard, and you're in great shape! You can do it!" Ruby pumped a fist in the air.

"Of course I _can _do it." Weiss crossed her arms and stuck out a hip. Ruby hated how cute she found the little motion. "It's just a stupid thing to do. I'm going to take the elevator."

"Hey, that's a bad idea!" Ruby shouted, but the bratty girl was already heading down the hall, a horde of zombies tailing after her.

* * *

"If I get attacked by a mummy I'm going to kill that girl," Weiss said quietly to herself. The elevators were out of the way, and she found herself having to walk through several exhibits on what used to be a nice, linear pathway.

It wouldn't have been so scary if her earnest and cute but dumb as dirt little guardian hadn't decided to abandon her by means of climbing. The girl was an endless font of words in a cadence quicker than Weiss had ever heard before. She climbed _and_ squeaked like a little monkey. But she was an inexplicably adorable monkey.

Ruby was unlike anyone she had ever met, mostly because she always hung out with a very exclusive social circle. But society was gone, and none of her old friends probably had what it takes to survive a world with zombies. She would be dead too if it wasn't for Ruby.

But now that same girl might have killed her. It was bad enough that she was by herself, but she was weaving her way through exhibits filled with creepy statues and sarcophagi filled with what she hoped were the still dead pharaohs. She jumped when she turned a corner and found herself staring at the painted golden face of a wax statue.

Weiss released a held breath when she finally found her way out of there

At the end of the hall she finally found the elevators. When she opened it and stepped inside, she turned and saw her pursuers for the first time. It was quite a crowd; she was finding that one or two of the clumsy, shambling idiots was nothing, but seeing more than fifty pushing and shoving their way through a narrow hallway was truly terrifying. She grimaced and mashed the 'close door' button. The doors began to slowly slide closed with a groan. She stepped over to the center, dropped her still clean fireplace stoker onto the ground, and drew her revolver from the holster beneath her crop jacket. She leveled it just how Ruby showed her, pointing it at the nearest zombie.

"Come on," she whispered to herself as the horde drew closer. Her breaths grew short and shallow. "Come on." She took a few steps back until her heel hit the back wall. Weiss could feel the air in her lungs burning. "Shut, damn it!"

Her hands began to tremble as the first zombie reached a hand out and moaned at her. Her finger just barely began to squeeze when the door snapped the last of the way quickly. She released a puff of breath, the high strung tension working its way out of her body as she dropped the gun to her side and leaned against the wall. "Damn it, Ruby."

She could hear the bangs and moans on the door as the elevator began to rise. She shook her head, taking deep breaths in rhythm with the soft elevator music. She could feel her own heartbeat in her ears as it steadily slowed to a normal pace.

"That was a close–,"

The elevator dinged and Weiss found herself tumbling out the second set of doors on the elevator. She winced when her back hit the cold marble floor. Her head was aching again and she slowly opened her eyes.

_'Really. Twice in one day?'_

This time it was worse, from a purely aesthetic point of view. This gaping, drooling vortex of teeth and death had long hair that dangled and dripped with blood and who knows what else. Just as dangerous, but way, way uglier.

This time, she didn't scream. She stared into it's dead white eyes and she felt something just click. Because why should she be scared? In this new world, she was always an inch from death. She wasn't scared. No, she was _pissed._

_'What a joke. I'm supposed to be eating lunch at my favorite cafe downtown, then shopping with my friends for an outfit to go clubbing in tonight, just like I do every day. But instead I'm lying on my back for the second time with a pathetic excuse for a movie monster ready to bite me in the face. Well screw that, I'm not dying to this!'_

Weiss jammed her revolver into that ugly mouth. "Up yours," she said as she pulled the trigger. She threw the zombie to the side and pulled herself off the ground. Barely looking, she domed the other two zombies in the vicinity.

* * *

Ruby picked up her pace when she heard the sounds of gunfire. She had yet to run into anything on the second floor, but whoever else was up here wasn't so lucky. Her eyes went wide as she slid her way around half broken barricades. That was never a good sign. She knew better than to trust static defense; a human's main advantage over zeke was mobility.

There were signs of a bloody struggle all over the floor and Ruby stepped cautiously to avoid getting any of the disgusting mess on her boots. She took a deep gulp, slowing the distances between her steps. The enemy known is better than the enemy hidden.

"Weiss!?" she called into the quiet air. Her high pitched voice echoed in the large, empty halls. She bit her lip at the lack of response. Each of her steps echoed, and her eyes glanced down to find bloody footprints heading further into the hall.

"Weiss?" she called in a quieter voice.

In the distance she heard a soft thud. She took a deep breath but found the stench of death too stifling. Ruby unslung her hunting rifle and continued. She peeked into the large room that housed the elevator. "Hello? If there are any zombies in here, moan so I know where you are."

"Would you be quiet?"

Ruby nearly leapt out of her clothes. She wheeled her gun around. Weiss was standing not three feet away, leaning against a vending machine with a bottle of juice in hand. She pulled a dollar from the pocket in her jeans and bought another bottle. Weiss held it out and Ruby took it hesitantly.

"The gunshots?"

Weiss pointed down at six zombies scattered around the room, then stuck her gun out. Ruby nodded and took it. She began to reload the weapon between sips of juice.

Weiss looked her up and down. "How could you leave me like that?" she whined.

Ruby shook her head. "Ah– um– I'm sorry."

* * *

Rob had been a docent of the little suburban museum for something like three years. He had come to work that day, just like any other, ignoring the slight cramps in his stomach after what must have been a bad frozen dinner the night before.

He left his tiny cramped apartment not knowing that it would be his last day alive on this planet.

He wasn't quite sure when it had happened, there was no violent death, no weeping and gnashing of teeth by a coworker or some patron of the museum. No, one moment he was, and the next moment he simply wasn't.

But the tour group he was guiding certainly _did_ suffer a violent death by flurry of bites. But there he was, still at the front of the pack, leading his tour of fresh zombies in their pursuit of a silver-haired girl. Their slow, relentless surge towards her was interrupted by a pair of shiny silver doors.

Rob had done this a million times. He was so practiced, he could walk through the museum backwards and hit the button for the elevator without a hitch in his step. But without a functioning brain, the task became much harder. Harder, but not impossible.

When the doors shut and the flood of bodies pounded against it he was pushed to the side. With the pressure of almost thirty bodies sweeping over him, Rob managed to bump the elevator up button with a flailing limb as he rolled by.

In the next few moments of waiting, several of the outer zombies, with their infinitesimally short attention spans, turned and wandered away. Between the car alarms on the streets, the sound of the fires, the smell of blood hanging on the air and drifting from every which way, most of the bulk of Rob's tour had wandered off. Normally he would have fumed and screamed to get them back in line, but Rob wasn't really Rob anymore.

The soft ding of the elevator was the sound that got his attention. The remaining zombies surged in, filling the space and banging against the wall on the other side. Rob himself was at the back of the group, and though it didn't register in his disease ridden brain, the elevator closed behind him. They were only two pounds from setting off the emergency locking system.

* * *

Weiss could hear the sound of the elevators cables groaning. Her mouth dropped open as she saw the indicator above the elevator doors. It opened, and a pile of zombies came pouring out.

Two plastic bottles dropped to the ground simultaneously. "Run!"

Ruby turned and darted away. "This floor is already clear," Ruby shouted as the two of them pushed into a sprint.

"How did they use an elevator?"

"I have no idea!" Ruby turned into a back peddle, swung her rifle around, and shot the nearest zombie.

Weiss turned and did the same. "There's too many."

"No, we can handle this, I have a plan." Ruby looked around quickly, and then ran over to a wax statue exhibit. She froze, doing her best to blend into a scene of a speakeasy.

"You're an idiot, that won't work!"

"Just trust me, get over here," Ruby said without moving her jaw.

Weiss rolled her eyes and then sprinted over, crouching behind a piano. The zombies shambled their way into the big atrium. Without skipping a step– a few zombies with injured legs notwithstanding– they immediately bee lined for the two of them, knocking over but otherwise ignoring any fake humans in their way.

"And I thought your other plans were bad," Weiss said as Ruby ran past. She took a few shots into the crowd before running.

"Yeah, I don't know why I would thought that would work."

The two of them weaved through more exhibits, ending up on the upper balcony that Ruby had jumped on to. Weiss smiled as they past a pair of medieval armors. Ruby stopped and broke the glass to a case of old medieval weapons. Ruby reached in and pulled out a mace. "Woo, look at this!"

"Why not use our guns?"

"Please, these are medieval weapons _designed_ for skull bashing." Ruby bit her lip as Weiss stared her down. "Okay, I've always wanted to swing one."

"Ugh, this is our lives, and you're acting like a little kid in a toy store!"

"Well I'm so sorry, princess. I've only been preparing for something like this my entire life only to find out it's super easy. This is the first chance I've had to have fun," Ruby said, storming off towards the approaching horde. "You're– you're so annoying, and bossy! " she shouted while swinging the mace wildly. "If you don't want to do things my way, then you can just leave!"

Weiss shook her head. "Fine!"

She ignored the sounds of battle behind her and strode around the room. Then she saw what she was looking for. Behind a big heavy glass display was a mannequin wearing an outfit right out of a three musketeers movie. Laying in front of it was a beautiful silver hilted rapier. Weiss shot the glass, hit it with her gun, then pulled the sword out. She held it high, admiring its sharp point and its polished and sturdy handle.

She marched over pointing the weapon out. She watched as Ruby swung and caved in another zombie's skull with a sickening crunch, then relocated, taking deep huffs.

"This is heavier than I thought," the redhead said.

"I've got the rest." Weiss held the blade out. It was weightier than the epee she usually used, but it was well balanced, much more accurate than the stoker had been.

_'Shoulders back, left foot forward.'_ Weiss darted forward, her weapon gliding easily through the temple of the closest zombie. The polished blade slid out easily, and she slid it into the next zombie's eye socket.

Taking slow, wide steps back she got them to come in a nice, slow line and quickly wiped the entire group out. She was taking deep breaths as she lifted the blade into the air and smiled. "Okay, this was worth it."

Ruby nodded quietly at her, then turned her head in a huff. She began to walk off, taking heavy, hard steps. Unsure of what to do, Weiss just followed her. Ruby seemed genuinely angry, but to Weiss, risking your life to kill zombies in the funnest way was stupid. This was life and death, not a game or a movie. But if she was going to be fair, Ruby was prepared. This all seemed like nothing to the girl; she had no qualms bashing a few zombie brains.

They climbed down the stairs at the end of the hall, which lead down into a gift shop. By the time Weiss caught up to Ruby, the girl was standing over three re-dead undead. Ruby had her arms crossed, pouting adorably even though she was splattered with blood.

Weiss hesitated, then put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Hey, about earlier. You're childish, and reckless, and stupid. But I know I'm bossy and difficult– and I don't want to go through this alone. I'm sorry."

Ruby looked her up and down, then sighed. "I'm sorry too. Um– I– I'm actually happy that you're around. I've always had to do everything alone, and I think– it's worth having you around. I like you, Weiss. I think we could be friends." The redheaded girl grasped Weiss's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Weiss nodded. "You're such a loser." Then she smiled. "But a nice one. Let's go find your sister."

Ruby nodded and left the gift store. As Weiss followed her, the girl turned for a moment and gave her a quick smile. It was the sweetest thing she'd ever seen and her heart did a gentle flutter and her eyes went wide. _'Uh oh.'_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Yang grimaced as she looked out around Camp Signal. Three days ago there were children swimming in the lake and hanging around the crafts tables beneath maple roofed pavilions. They were running and laughing and smiling in the open fields.

Three days can make a world of difference.

The air was silent; only the wind spoke as it rustled through red leaves. It whistled as it passed by the cabins. She missed the laughter of children, the idle chatter of the counselors. When the sound of wind chimes began to echo through the camp, Yang took a deep breath. She climbed down from the roof where she was sitting, giving the rope a quick tug to check its integrity before heading into the cabin.

"Anything out there?" A voice called softly as she shut the door.

"Nope," she answered with a pop, flinging herself onto the nearby bed. "Don't even hear bugs." She set the camp shotgun down beside the bed. It was usually locked away, only to be used in case of bears. When the news came over the radio that a real life zombie apocalypse started, the camp administrator decided to take it out.

"Were there any signs of cars on the road?"

Yang ceased cleaning her nails and shook her head. "No, not yet."

"Do you think they're going to come back?"

Yang glanced over at the brown haired girl. When it was announced the dead were rising, Velvet had developed a twitch that only got worse with each passing day. She wasn't really sure what to tell her; traveling to the military evacuation center should have only taken a few hours.

When they packed the bus with all the campers, there just wasn't enough space. Yang had volunteered to stay behind; she had faith that everything her crazy survivalist uncle had taught her would keep her alive even if they couldn't come back. It was such a shame that Velvet had lost the draw and had to stay behind.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon," answered the girl beside Yang.

Yang smiled slightly, putting a hand down on Blake's thigh and gave it a gentle, appreciative squeeze. When Yang volunteered to stay behind, so did her girlfriend. Blake flicked Yang's hand away before the other girl in the room could notice. Secret girlfriend.

"The camp is plenty stocked and I haven't seen heads or tails of any zombies," Yang couldn't catch her tongue before the word slipped out; every time she said it Velvet squeaked and got even jumpier. "We're pretty safe out here; there's nothing to worry about."

Blake snapped the book she was reading shut. "She's right."

The two of them did their best to keep to give Velvet reassuring smiles, but the girl would never stop looking like a frightened little bunny.

* * *

"Hey Ruby, I have a question."

"Yeah?" The girl swung and planted her axe into a zombie skull. She tugged it out, then turned and continued walking down the sidewalk.

"How do you think all these people actually got infected?"

"I'd assume they got bit. Usually any sort of body fluid does it, but biting is probably the number one source._"_

"Well yeah, obviously a lot of these people are bitten, but it looks like some aren't. The real issue is how any of these people got bit in the first place. The zombies move a little slower than walking." Weiss paused, gesturing at an approaching zombie. "I mean, look. It's not like all the zombies we see are obese couch potatoes. He is, by all accounts, a fit looking adult male. Even at a light jog– hell, a power walk– he should have been able to avoid a zombie no sweat. How did he get caught?"

"I don't know. I think the bulk of people usually get caught unaware."

"But who hasn't seen a zombie movie? Everyone should get the gist of how it works, especially once people start going for bites."

"You're probably right," Ruby answered, watching as Weiss slid her newly acquired weapon through a zombie's temple. The girl's fencing was impressive. Ruby was relying on clumsy strength, but Weiss was pure grace and poise. "I mean I saw one on the street, ran home, and started getting my gear ready. I came out about a day later and everyone was already infected. I guess something does have to be doing it besides bites."

Weiss shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter. Just thought it was strange." The white haired girl halted just ahead of Ruby. "It's my turn to pick where we go, and I vote here."

"A bar?" Ruby asked with a goofy inflection in her voice "Oh, I get it. Good thinking." The redheaded girl pushed open the heavy door, finding it open. "Come and get it!" She shouted, holding the door open and standing to the side. After a few moments, a zombie walked out only to realize that 'it' was a blow to the head.

Ruby smiled as she walked into the bar. She had never actually been in one. The smell of alcohol still didn't drown out the pervading scent of rotting flesh on the air, but it was a little better inside the building than outside. She darted over to the bar, hopping over easily. She began to root around, drawing out a couple of dirty bar rags and then tearing them into little strips.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked as she walked by, running an elegant hand over the bottles. She took a bottle of whiskey from the shelf. "As I expected. Only cheap swill." She pulled a pair of glasses from beneath the counter.

"Why would that matter?" Ruby said, snatching the bottle from her hand and jamming a rag into it.

"Are you– is that a molotov cocktail?"

"Yeah, isn't that was why you wanted to come in here?" Ruby asked, shaking it around and sloshing the liquid inside. "If we run into another herd, this'll clear it out real quick."

"Well, that is smart," Weiss said, grabbing another bottle and finally filling the two glasses. "But I was thinking more along the lines of ordinary cocktails."

"That's a bad idea. You shouldn't impair yourself in survival situations, you never know what could happen, and if you dull your reaction time–,"

"You climbed a skeleton and jumped across a ten foot gap, and you're concerned about a little alcohol?"

Ruby looked nervously at the drink. "But– but we're underage."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her. She swung the bottle in Ruby's direction and pointed it at her neck like a dangerous dagger. "Do you think a cop is going to bust you? Throw you in the drunk tank? Issue a fine? No one cares any more. I think we've earned a little drop of heaven."

The golden liquid sloshed as Ruby caught the glass. From the corner of her eyes she saw Weiss throw her shot back. She bit her lip and brought it up to her face. Weiss was watching her as she cautiously lifted the drink. The smell hit her first, causing her nose to crinkle as she let a little bit into her mouth.

It was disgustingly bitter and sharp; all Ruby could taste was the alcohol. Her whole body cringed, and when she finally couldn't take it any more she swallowed. She jolted and began to cough uncontrollably.

_'Why does anyone drink this!'_

"Have you– have you never had alcohol before?" Weiss was looking at her with judgmental eyes. "You are _such _a child."

"I am not. I just– I never wanted to drink it. Why hurt my body when I can drink milk?"

"You just never had any fun did you?" Weiss sat there stationary for a moment, staring at her as she filled her own glass again and took a sip. "You do look kind of adorable when you crinkle your nose."

"Wow, really?"

The white haired girl froze. "No." Weiss took another sip of her drink while Ruby started preparing another molotov cocktail. "Hey, Ruby. Maybe we should try and get to know each other better."

Ruby couldn't help but smile. Sure, Weiss probably was only with her because she could help the girl survive, but she hoped that if they spent some time together they could be friends. Maybe more. Probably not, but maybe. "That sounds great."

"Okay. You said you were alone a lot. So, have you ever had a crush? I'd ask if you've had a–," the girl paused noticeably, "a boyfriend, but I really doubt someone would have dated a girl like you."

Ruby squeaked and shook her head. "Nope, no boyfriend, never even wanted one– and that's a mean thing to say."

"It was a correct assumption. You're a catch now but before– definitely not. So no crushes?"

"Well I didn't say that," Ruby let slip, before she shut her mouth with another squeak. She wasn't sure if Weiss would put two and two together on that.

Ruby could feel her heart pounding as she waited to see how Weiss would react. It wasn't like the girl knew she had a crush on her. But it would still be finding out that the partner you were trying to survive the apocalypse with had a very different definition of the word 'partner.'

"You've never wanted a boyfriend, but you've–," Weiss just stared at the girl for a moment, then took another swig from her drink. "So, what's your sister like?"

* * *

Yang glanced up at the moon; she was moments from dozing off when she heard the rope hanging from the roof pull taut. She watched as her girlfriend climbed over the edge, then strode across and sat beside her.

"Hiya babe, Velvet go down already?"

"Wouldn't leave her alone otherwise. Yang, about earlier, I'm sorry. I just don't know if I want people to know. It's so hard to have everyone treat me differently. Even just Velvet."

"It's okay, I understand," Yang responded with a cheery smile. "I just wish we had more time alone. So," she drew out, "it looks like we're alone now"

"Mhm." Blake leaned in and gave her a slow kiss. She pulled away and rested her head on Yang's shoulder.

"I hid this up here for you," Yang said. Blake was perched precariously on her, so Yang leaned over slowly to keep her girl where she wanted her. She came back with a little container of celery and carrot sticks. Blake gave her a cute little smile and started eating. "I understand the gay thing, but why don't you tell people you're a vegan? Velvet's one too, so I just don't get it. Most vegans are really, really in your face about it."

"I don't want to be that way. There's a stigma that comes with it. I'm glad that you don't mind, but a lot people still don't think very highly of us. Besides, if Velvet knew, that's all she would want to talk to me about; that's all they ever want to talk about. I don't want that. I'm a terrible vegan anyway, I just can't help myself around tuna."

Yang laughed, drawing a dark look from the black-haired girl. "Yeah, I've noticed, kitten. I'm still trying to find a tuna scented perfume. But isn't it weirder that you refuse to eat around other people?"

Blake didn't respond, she just kept nibbling at the vegetables.

"Well, it's alright. I'll try to casually make our meals something that you can eat with us. Otherwise it might scare Velvet that you aren't eating."

"Everything scares Velvet."

Yang chuckled. "She's so jumpy, we should call her the velveteen rabbit."

Blake sighed, pushing away and hopping off the roof.

"Uh, Blake?" When the door below her slammed, Yang flopped onto her back and laughed.

* * *

Weiss watched as Ruby flipped through the channels on one of the televisions in the bar, receiving nothing but a sharp, ringing tone and a technical difficulties image. It stung in Weiss's ears, and not just because of the noise; it was because it meant there was nothing else out there. Just her and Ruby. Weiss shook her head at that thought. Especially since the adorable little loser had not so subtly outed herself. Well, it was better than having to listen to her talk about some cute boys that were probably dead.

Weiss knew that she was asking for trouble when she began to investigate the girl's preference. Sure she was cute, but that wasn't everything. The heiress dated beautiful college athletes and models, not young survival freaks– no matter how sweet their smile was. There would never be that heat– that spark. The younger girl hid her body beneath a red cloak, but in her head Weiss couldn't imagine it was anything but petite and childish.

Maybe if they survived for two or three years it could work out.

More than anything, Weiss was scared that they wouldn't make it two years. Not just surviving– Ruby inspired a confidence in her that keeping alive wouldn't be too hard. Weiss was more afraid that, like everyone else in her life, Ruby would get sick of having her around.

She hadn't been able to have a relationship that lasted more than a week. No matter how much she liked Ruby, it wasn't worth risking a breakup in a world where that meant dying.

"I found something," Weiss said, sick of her depressing train of thought.

Ruby turned and smiled, oh so cutely, back at her. Weiss was swinging a key on finger with a satisfied smirk.

"Sweet, what kind of car? I really liked your convertible, by the way. Very cool."

Weiss sighed. "Yeah, I'm going to miss her. I spotted it outside. Its a little motorcycle– a crotch rocket. Seems appropriate, because of the zombie apocalypse and all."

"Yeah, but do you mind if I drive?" Ruby said, her voice soft and meek. It grew a little squeaky when she was saying something she didn't want to. "I know how to; my sister has one. I've driven it tons of times."

Weiss grimaced at her. "I think I would feel safer if I drove."

"I wouldn't." The girl squealed and covered her mouth. There was a few moments of hesitation before she met Weiss's angry glare. "It's just– you already crashed the one car, and this is a motorcycle. If we clip something we aren't going to spin out, we're going to die."

Weiss stamped her foot and a nasty creak came from the floorboards. She threw the keys at Ruby, who winced but still managed to catch them after they bounced off of her head. "Fine, you drive." She stormed out of the bar.

Ruby followed behind digging a flashlight out of her pack. "Weiss, it isn't safe. We should get a good night's rest before we set out again." The little ring of light scanned the surrounding area.

Weiss watched carefully, glad to see there weren't any zombies around. But not fifteen seconds after exiting the bar, Weiss saw the nearest street light extinguish, casting inky darkness onto the street. In the distance, she could see every light go out over the whole town; like a descending sheet of darkness reminding her that society was gone.

"This is a bad idea."

Weiss wheeled around and cast a dark glare at the other girl. "Everything you've suggested has been a bad idea. You obviously don't care that there are zombies walking around, this is just a game to you." She turned and walked towards the motorcycle.

"Please, stop. It should be obvious," Ruby said, gesturing at a shadowy outline approaching slowly and illuminating it with her flashlight. "These silly things aren't a threat. The real threat is everything else. Sleep deprivation, hunger, thirst. Letting our minds get dulled, or trying to do things when our senses are weak. Let's rest up, and go out in the morning."

"Fine– and you say I'm the bossy one. First light, we head out." Weiss's eyes went wide. "Ruby, don't move."

"What is it?" Ruby shined the light directly on Weiss's face. When she saw the girl's expression, her own body shrank down. "There's something right behind me isn't there?" she asked, her bubbly voice deflating fast.

Weiss nodded. She could hear a soft growl and a pair of eyes, just barely ringed with shining green. When Ruby dropped the light off of Weiss's face and an outline started to form as her eyes grew adjusted. "It's some kind of big cat."

"What– like a puma?"

"There you go." Weiss said, slowly drawing her hand towards her gun. She watched the cat's body stretch and go low. Her fingers squeezed around her weapon. "Duck!"

Ruby darted out of the way as the puma slung through the air. Her motion was nothing but a blur of red. Having missed its mark, the puma's whole body hit the concrete with a dull thud. In a slow, uncontrolled manner it raised itself off the ground. Ruby got the light back on it. The beast was all rippling sinew rapidly twitching. Weiss stared at the gray, mottled fur as she drew her weapon and unloaded her bullets quickly.

Each caused it to flail a little, but barely more than if a wasp had stung it. It stared at her with dead, dilated eyes for a moment before turning towards Ruby.

"It's a zombie. It's a zombie!"

"A zombie puma!?" Ruby slung her rifle around with hurried hands. She took careful aim and shot at its head, flashlight still in hand. It shook a little, dropping to the ground for a moment before beginning an uneven four-legged shamble towards her. The girl grit her teeth. "Weiss, keep the light on it, I can't hold it and shoot," she said, tossing the heavy flashlight to Weiss.

Immediately it turned towards the other girl and began to stumble towards her with a deep wheezy growl.

Ruby fired another shot, tipping it a little, but not ceasing its movement. The light focused on the pair of gashes on its head and the exposed, dented skull.

"I need a good angle or it's going to deflect."

Weiss shrieked as the Puma slung through the air again. "Screw this!" she said, rolling out of the way.

The only thing that the puma got a hold of was the flashlight that the heiress had dropped. Weiss ran straight for the motorcycle. "Let's just get out of here."

Ruby nodded, pushing past at full speed and slinging herself on. Weiss hopped on behind her. The moment Weiss gripped Ruby's stomach, the cycle lurched and they took off. Weiss spun around and watched as the Puma viciously pounded itself against the pavement. After a few slams the light was gone, and she saw no more.

"Turn the headlight off," Weiss screamed into Ruby's ear. "I think it was attracted to the light."

The younger girl nodded. "You could hold on tighter," she suggested before easing on the throttle and doing as she was told.

Weiss nodded, squeezing against Ruby and taking a few deep breaths to calm down. She couldn't help but notice how strong the girl felt. Though there were moments she doubted Ruby's reliability, when she was squeezed up against her Weiss knew that she couldn't have asked for a better partner to weather the apocalypse. Especially when the apocalypse included zombie pumas**.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Why don't we just call it a warthog? You know, since you don't like to call things what they really are." Weiss said, her tone as sassy as a person could manage trying to talk over the revving of a motorcycle.

"Shut up."

"You're the one who insists we name it. I don't get it, you know that it's just a–,"

"We're not going to call it a zombie puma. That just sounds ridiculous. 'Hey Ruby, do anything interesting today?' Yeah, almost got killed by a zombie puma. Besides, most people call them mountain lions here."

"Just stop. It's a zombie; it's a puma. I will also accept zombie mountain lion."

"You know what? If you want to be a jerk about it, we're really going to call it a warthog."

"You dolt, then no one would know what we're talking about."

Ruby turned her head; it was finally getting to be light enough that she didn't need to glue her eyes to the road. "Who? Who wouldn't know? Last time I checked, it's just me, you, and a whole bunch of _zekes._"

"Zombies."

As stated earlier, closing your eyes and driving was very inadvisable. Throwing your hands in the air and releasing an aggravated scream would actually be fine, most of the time. Unless you're driving a motorcycle.

"You idiot!" Weiss shouted, unwrapping her arms from their comfortable resting place on Ruby's body and grabbing ahold of the handlebar.

"Oops."

"Okay, I'm driving next time," Weiss said. She released the handlebar when she knew Ruby had a firm grasp of it.

It was at that moment that engine began to sputter. Ruby tried to hit the throttle a few times but they slowed to a stop despite her efforts.

"Oh, look at that. We're out of gas."

"Shut up, Weiss."

The two hopped off of the bike, letting it crash to the ground. Weiss immediately began to scan the area for their next vehicle. They were on a pretty major road on the way out of the city, and there were plenty of stopped vehicles to pick from. The only issues were the thrashing zombies, still trapped by seat-belts in their vehicles.

"Hmm. How about this?" Ruby called out, waving Weiss over to a minivan. "We could hold a lot of supplies in there, and there's lots of room to stretch out if we have to sleep in it. "

"I don't know. I was thinking of something sportier."

"We really need to pick something useful. We need storage space. We're going to be living off of foraging for awhile– and what would we do when we find my sister?"

"You're probably right, but I don't want to be in a minivan. What about that one?" Weiss pointed at a huge SUV further down the road.

"No, it's a gas guzzler. We won't be able to keep that thing running. Think of all the time we'll spend getting gas."

"Well what, do you want a hybrid? Because I don't even want a zombie to see me driving one of those."

"No, no, but just something economical. This is a big decision and we need to pick the best car to suit our needs. Which are to outrun zombies, which is easy, any car could do it. But surviving, not so easy." Ruby gestured to the van again. "It's like the perfect apocalypse vehicle– it's just that no one really thinks about it."

"Yeah, we're surviving a zombie apocalypse, not driving our kids to soccer practice. We aren't taking this."

_'Marrying __Weiss __and raising kids with __her__. That's the image I need in my mind.'_ Ruby shrugged and ran a hand through her hair. "Well, what do you think we should take?"

Weiss tapped her foot, thinking hard. "This is the first time I've ever wished there was a car salesman around."

Their argument was interrupted by the sound of moans on the air. The undead still trapped in their cars couldn't be heard, but the noise was loud and from far away. Ruby dug into her satchel and withdrew a pair of binoculars.

On the horizon, she spotted a zombie as it came into a view. Then another to its right– and another to its left. Soon, they were pouring over the edge of the world like a cavalry charge that would lead to glorious victory. At least it would have looked like that if they weren't moving at a snails pace.

"Uh oh, they followed us."

"How?"

"Must have been the noise. You see, this is why I was walking."

"You expect me to walk?" Weiss said with an elegant jutting of her hip.

Ruby stared her down silently. She wasn't usually one for silence, but this moment warranted it.

"Fine." Weiss walked over the minivan. She shot the driver and then yanked him out. The keys were in the ignition, so she started the car. She cranked the radio up and switched it into gear. She hopped out as the it began to idle down the road. "That should distract them. Let's go."

"Good thinking," Ruby said, setting off for the forest just on the edge of the highway.

* * *

"Hah!" Yang shouted as she brought an axe down with ferocity.

There was a soft thud as the log beneath it split in two. The blonde girl wiped away the sweat that was forming on her brow. She placed another log onto the stump, but didn't take another swing.

"How's that book treating you?"

Blake was already watching Yang out of the corner of her eye, but she shifted her book down a little. "Fine."

Yang shrugged, then brought the axe into a broad swing and chopped another log. "You know, you could help a little."

Even though she wasn't reading, Blake flipped a page. She had brought enough books to last through camp, but with all the extra free time she had burned through them easily. So instead of reading a good book, she was watching her girlfriend chop wood.

Even in the center of the Forever Fall national park, they relied on power lines and small space heaters. But with the grid gone, they had to dig out an old wood burning stove to fend off the cold nights.

Blake knew she could help– or she could watch a muscular, gorgeous girl work up a sweat. She chose the latter. She couldn't help but think how much better life would be if this wasn't what she enjoyed. If she could just be fine with a muscular, gorgeous _guy, _or if she could turn off her moral compass that kept her from eating meat. She wished she could just be normal.

It was too depressing a thought, even for her. "Are you worried about your sister?" Blake asked, hoping to keep herself from drifting into darkness that would be inappropriate for a bright morning.

"Not really, actually. I'd be more worried if Ruby got herself a boyfriend or was invited to a party. Zombies? No, the living dead are something Ruby _can _deal with. I learned a few things from my uncle; she was raised by him."

"Is he really that crazy?"

Yang put the axe down and leaned onto it. "He dropped her off in the middle of these woods with a roll of duct tape and buck knife and told her to survive for a week. She was ten."

"That's– child abuse, isn't it?"

"I gave him a pounding for it. But a week later she showed up on his doorstep with a big grin on her face and a wolf pelt on her back talking all about the fun she had on her adventure," she answered with a giggle.

Blake couldn't help but laugh.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried at all, but she can take of herself better than I can."

"I wonder what it's like out there. What if there isn't anything wrong out there any more?"

Yang split another log, then paused with the axe on her shoulder. "The grid is out," she reminded, her voice somber.

"Yeah," Blake said with a resigned sigh.

The two continued with their business in silence. Yang chopping wood, Blake watching her. Neither aware that the danger that they thought was far off in the world beyond their remote camp was closer than they could have known. Their first warning was an eardrum rupturing shriek from near their cabin.

* * *

The Forever Fall forest was dyed a gorgeous red, even in the summer. Hence the name. Weiss watched as Ruby strode through the wood, her cloak striking an imposing image as it fluttered among matching leaves.

The dark-haired girl always walked with a confidence out of place in an ending world rife with danger, where she was one bite or scratch from death. It was part of what made the girl's presence so reassuring to Weiss. But in the wood, Ruby was beyond confident. She walked like there was nowhere she was more at home. The whole forest belonged to the little girl in the red hood.

They had been walking for a better part of the day, so Weiss wasn't shocked when Ruby turned to her.

"You doing all right?"

"I run several miles every day. I can handle a little traipse through the woods."

Ruby smiled. "It shows. That you run, I mean." The girl hesitated a moment. "But we haven't slept yet. I think we should hunker down for the night soon."

"Excuse me? We're in the middle of the woods. Unless you have an RV packed in that bag I'm not going to sleep."

"Heh. 'Oh, look at me, my name's Weiss. I can't sleep in a tent.' That's you." Ruby turned and began to walk again. "You know the safest way to sleep is a hammock, right? High in the trees so they can't get to you. It's that or always having one of us on look out."

"Couldn't a warthog climb?" Weiss asked, following Ruby with her arms crossed.

It took Ruby a minute to even understand. "I don't think so. It didn't look particularly coordinated. I guess it could jump, which was more than a zeke could do. A live one could get us easily, though."

"I think I need to get more mentally prepared before I can sleep in a tree."

Ruby shrugged, then pointed off in a seemingly random direction. "There's an emergency cabin that way. Let's go."

"Finally, you've got a good idea."

"Hey, my ideas are fine."

"No, you're an idiot."

The two walked in relative silence for a short distance. The quiet was unsettling. They were too far from civilization. The moaning that had become white noise to them was suddenly gone. Not a bird chirped or bug stirred in the forest. It was truly dead silence.

"So are you sure that the warthog was attracted to light?"

Weiss nodded.

Ruby released an annoyed sigh. "That means light discipline. No fires at night."

"You're right. We can't risk it. At least it's summer."

"Yeah, we have time to find a permanent place before winter. So no naked huddling for warmth," Ruby said before she could stop herself.

She was mad that the idea popped into her head. It was always a fantasy that Ruby had clung to when she spent lonely nights alone in the woods. She would rescue a pretty girl when the world really ended, then some cold, damp night they would do some sweet, sweet cuddling. Her cheeks nearly matched her cloak.

Weiss just laughed. "No fire, no electric heating. Hope you have thick blankets."

With a proud smile, Ruby nodded. "My sleeping bag is rated for Everest."

"Do you have more than one?"

"Uh– no. But we'll find you one before it gets cold."

Both girls froze simultaneously. "We're going to have to share aren't we?" Weiss asked.

"No, I'm fine with my cloak. We'd have to get soaked and this is real life, not some terrible romantic comedy. There's no way it's going to–,"

Ruby was interrupted by a lightning bolt striking in the distance, soon followed by the boom of thunder. Ruby stopped speaking and didn't finish her thought until the sound of droplets began to sound on trees and the ground all around her.

"Rain."

* * *

"Hah!" Yang shouted as she brought an axe down with ferocity.

There was a sickening squelch as a skull split in two. She had flipped a thin ghoul off of Velvet. Some poor runner in the forest had been infected and died.

By the time Yang finished dispatching the lone monster, Blake was already beside Velvet, helping the girl off of the ground. The brown haired girl was as pale as death and each breath she took rasped through her throat, ravaged by her ungodly shrieking.

Yang dropped the axe, wiping the blood off of her hands and helping her girlfriend brace Velvet. They had the crying girl sandwiched.

"Hey, it's alright," Blake said, trying to rub calming circles on Velvet's back.

The frightened girl shook her head fast, whipping the other girls lightly with her hair as she scrunched further into a ball.

"I took care of it, see, it's fine. It's gone," Yang tried to reassure, casting a worried glance over to Blake, who grimaced back.

Velvet sniffled a few times, still shaking her head. "Please– please," the girl rasped.

Her arm slowly raised from where it was tucked against her stomach. Yang winced at the blood stains on her sleeve. Velvet slowly peeled back the drenched cloth. The skin was mangled and clotting, leaving a very distinct circular ring of teeth marks. Yang could already smell rot coming from the wound.

"Please tell me that it's not like the movies," Velvet choked through sobs before descending into full weeping.

Blake and Yang both soon joined her.

* * *

Weiss had her arms crossed, sitting with her bare back to the little battery operated heater. Their clothes were partially dry but still wet, not that she was looking. No, Ruby was right behind her. They were probably only two years apart, but for some reason Weiss was hesitant to look at her.

"Getting dark, it's going to have to go off. Are you ready to sleep?"

Weiss nodded, rubbing her nearly dry but still cold shoulders. The moment she heard the heater's little fans go off, she immediately felt a chill begin to seep into the room. Ruby called it an 'emergency cabin' but it was more like a shed made of logs. It was going to be a rough night.

She turned around. The connotation of rough night suddenly flipped in her head, and a slight smirk tugged at her lips despite her mind screaming at her body not to do anything.

Ruby was standing meekly in front of her, all that confidence from outside dissolved away. She had her hands crossed over her chest and there was an obvious tension from the bottom of her toes to the top of her head that made her stand perfectly straight, except for her head tilted towards the ground.

The camouflage bra and matching panties nearly made Weiss laugh; they were just so _appropriate _for the girl. But the rest of Ruby– it certainly didn't make her want to laugh.

Logically she knew that Ruby was strong and fit, but for some reason Weiss always pictured the younger girl as having a childish body. It was likely her attitude, but in hindsight Weiss realized it was defensive. She didn't want to know what was under that cloak.

They had undressed back to back, but if Weiss knew what was under there she wouldn't have. No, she would have wanted to see the survival freak drop her cloak, tear away her vest, and peel off her skin tight compression gear.

"Weiss? Is something wrong?"

The heiress stepped forward. "Not at all. So, we're– going to share a sleeping bag."

Ruby nodded, not that Weiss really noticed. She watched Ruby spread out a thin, shiny looking bag. Her eyes watched the ripples that every slight movement sent through Ruby's well defined physique.

"Well, let's get this over with," Ruby said with a slight chuckle, sliding into their bedding and slipping a night mask over her eyes.

Weiss couldn't help but laugh. "What is that thing?" she asked as she slid into the bag. She nudged forward a little under the pretense of examining the odd mask, drawing them closer together.

It was almost unfair. Ruby was a freak, but had an adorable and sweet smile. As much as Weiss liked that, it wasn't enough to overcome her hesitation about the girl. But now she had to find out the Ruby had a perfect body hidden under that little red cloak– of course that had to happen right before they spent a half naked night together in a sleeping bag made for one.

"I can't sleep unless it's dark," Ruby explained, inching away from Weiss's advance. "Um, don't worry about getting close. This bag will trap all our heat no matter what. It'll warm up quickly."

"Yeah, I can feel things heating up," Weiss said absentmindedly, staring into Ruby's eyes. She could feel Ruby's body heat radiating into her; she could feel it deep in her core.

"Good night," Ruby said, her words coming out in a fraction of a second with a high pitched squeak. She pulled down her mask then became perfectly still.

Weiss found the dismissal off putting. Ruby pretty clearly said she was gay, and here they were squeezed together. A few sleepless minutes passed, but eventually Weiss saw Ruby's breathing slow and the tension ease out of her body.

With a mischievous smirk she slowly reached across the little gap that Ruby had created. She splayed her fingers over Ruby's abs. She could feel the warmth of her skin and the latent strength in them despite the smoothness of the girl's skin.

Weiss glanced up away from her hand. She expected to find a pair of fake red eyes staring back. Instead she found gray.

The two stayed perfectly still for a moment. Ruby was still hesitant as she leaned forward, taking Weiss's lips with the softest, sweetest kiss. As the gentle warmth pulled away Weiss smirked. A part of her had been afraid that for some reason Ruby hadn't thought of her in that way. But no more.

Suddenly, as she loved to do with stronger girls, Weiss became aggressive. She rolled herself onto Ruby, probing the younger girl's mouth with her tongue. Ruby was grasping at her, and Weiss took that as a good sign. She slid down, kissing her way down the girl's neck, gently at first but– just like everyone else outside of the cabin– she began to go for bites.

Weiss heard a soft moan, then felt herself gripped by strong arms and peeled away.

"Ruby?"

When the girl spoke, her voice was frantically fast. "I– I'm not ready to do anything like that. I never have before, I–that was my first kiss and– I don't think I can go much further tonight. I– I like you, though. I think that it's important. You know, that we– know how we feel about each other." Her frenetic pace slowed to a stop as she hesitantly looked up at Weiss with worried eyes.

Part of Weiss wanted to say that she cared for the girl. That for some indescribable reason she actually liked the dorky survival geek. But her nature and her mind got the better of her.

"Geez, what did you think was going to happen, you dunce. I was only feeling lonely." Weiss rolled over, embarrassed.

It wasn't like she had never been turned down before but it stung worse because this was the first time she really cared.

"It's not like I don't like you, though."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry there wasn't a warning about characters dying. But seriously, there are zombies. Did you think this was going to be all fun and games? Hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"When we find your sister, we're going to start calling it a zombie puma," Weiss said as she slipped into her shirt. As she bounced her way into her capris, she caught Ruby staring at her chest.

Silver eyes darted up from their slightly inappropriate target. "No. Hold that thought. It's a night stalker. You know, since it could easily find us at night."

"Do whatever you want. I'm going to call them zombies and zombie pumas. We don't have to agree on everything."

"At some point, we should agree about _something._"

There was a moment of silence between their inane chatter. It seemed so easy to fall back into what they always did despite that fact that the heiress knew that Ruby liked her. But she wasn't going to forget the events of the previous night.

Weiss suddenly pierced the silence. "What do you like about me?"

Ruby froze, blushing and glancing down at the ground. She meekly poked her two fingers together. "Well, you're the prettiest girl I've ever met."

Weiss rolled her eyes. That was just like everyone else. Her former flames had all said and thought similar things, but the longer they had spent with her the more they realized that was all she was– a pretty face.

"Uh, I know sometimes you're– prickly. But you complement me. I wouldn't want any other partner to go through this with. You can be kind of dependable and rational when I'm not."

Weiss nearly laughed at the absurdity of that statement. "No one has ever used the word dependable to describe me. Most people don't like me."

"Doesn't matter. It honestly doesn't. The world before– who you were before– it's all gone. No one liked me either; but things have changed. Welcome to the new world. Half of the known population likes you."

Weiss gave Ruby a warm smile. "You're right. I– I don't know why I always get this way. But I'm going to try to work on it. If you work on having some fun."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "But I've been having a blast! I had my first drink, I got to swing a mace, I met a pretty girl, and I saw a zombie puma."

"Okay, half of those things don't belong in that list, but we'll work on it. I'll become the best partner you could ask for. Thanks, Ruby." Weiss took a deep breath.

Half of her brain was screaming at her not to say anything else; that getting attached to people could only bring her pain. Ruby would come to hate her and leave. If she acknowledged how she felt, then her heart could be broken.

The other half of her brain was telling her to finally let herself open up. It tried to tell her that the only reason why all her other relationships failed was because she would always lash out at anything that got close to her heart. Her heart was telling her that if she told Ruby how she felt, something very special might bloom in the desolate remains of the dying world.

"Ruby, I–,"

Her words hadn't halted Ruby's attempts to get moving. Before she could finish her sentence, Ruby opened the door for a moment, then slammed it shut. The redheaded girl was as stiff as a board.

"Ruby?" Weiss walked over to her, prodding her a few times.

The girl was truly frozen. Her lips were pulled tight in resignation. Her eyes didn't blink and were neutral, which didn't match the awkward smile on the lower half of her face. A hand, moving jerkily, raised up and Ruby eased her eyelids down, then rubbed gently at her tired eyes.

Weiss wasn't really sure what was wrong, so she opened the door to check what the girl had seen. At the very bottom of her line of vision a dark blotch. Her eyes slowly slid down over a massive expanse of black fur. It was ragged, clumping and matting as though it was dipped in oil. The air buzzed with a low, raspy growl as the mass rose and fell, each breath releasing the now familiar stench of rotten flesh.

The zoo, just like a museum, was a place the heiress would never be caught dead. Nor did she ever watch documentaries. She preferred lighthearted television to anything educational or even reality based. Maybe she had glimpsed a picture of one now and then, but she had no idea how big and terrifying this beast was face to face. How truly frighting it was when in the flesh. Especially in the rotting flesh.

It let out a gruff, gravelly moan as it sat up off the ground, towering over the door frame.

Weiss slammed the door again. "That's a zombie bear."

"Yeah."

"We should leave."

"Yeah."

Both bolted in an instant. Ruby slung her rifle out and put a few rounds through the window. The gunshots didn't drown out the sound of the door crashing right off the hinges in a single shove as the creature barreled into the room. Before it could get to them Ruby pulled Weiss snug against her body, slung her cloak over the two of them, and leapt through the glass.

In an instant they were running through the woods. "Wait, this way," Ruby said, gradually turning. "Is it keeping up with us?" she asked as she hurdled over a fallen and rotting log.

It took a seconds for Weiss to risk glancing over her shoulder. She did just in time to see the bear bust through the log as easily as a track runner through a ribbon. It shambled awkwardly, each leg seeming to move at its own pace and rhythm. But even with its mistimed gait, it seemed to move as fast as an average running human.

"Yeah, it is." Weiss said, turning to face forward and running. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, you're always complaining about my plans. Any bright ideas?"

"Uh– lets climb something!"

"No, we'll just get stuck in the tree and it'll never leave."

Regardless of the plan they settled on, Weiss knew running was going to be step A through C. The two did their best to create distance. When Weiss risked to turn and look, she saw they had gained a little on it.

"We're just barely faster."

"Good, I've got a plan. We're going to get it into open ground then light it on fire, then run it in a circle until it dies."

"Is this another one of those dumb things where we do something unnecessary for fun? Because we have guns."

"No, if we fire them we'll draw every z-animal for miles."

"You dork. Did you really just say 'z-animal'?"

"Yeah."

"It's a zombie bear. They're zombie animals. For god's sake, why do you want to make things confusing!"

"I'm getting real sick of your shit, Weiss. Now is not the time for this!"

The two ceased talking and ran for a few moments, eventually Weiss turned to Ruby, giving her a funny look. "You shouldn't curse, it doesn't fit the whole adorable dork thing you've got going on."

If the run hadn't made Ruby flush, Weiss's comment certainly did. "You think I'm adorable?"

"Shut up, just focus on not getting eaten by the bear."

"No, I wanna hear more about how you think I'm cute!"

"Ruby! Focus!"

"On what? We're basically just jogging."

"Just stop talking."

* * *

"Are you okay?" Yang asked, rubbing a hand on Blake's back. Her knees were starting to ache from crouching beside her.

Blake hadn't moved an inch from her spot in front of the shallow grave. She wasn't exactly heaving and retching, but she was grieving. A slow, thin, and steady drip of tears crawled down her face as she stared.

"No," Blake said quietly. "She's just– gone. Like that. One bite. Those things are out there; for all we know there are millions. What are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know," Yang said quietly, standing up and stretching. "I think we just have to take this one day at a time."

"Is it even safe here? Should we stay or should we go?"

"If we go there will be trouble, but if we stay it will be double," Yang answered quickly with a smile.

She did her best to muster a cheery voice because it seemed like Blake really needed it. Of all the crazy things her uncle tried to teach her, the one that really sounded right was that you had to stay positive. If you didn't see the point of living, you just wouldn't.

That was why she was happy that her girlfriend cracked a slight smirk. "That's not funny," Blake scolded, "what should we do?'

Yang shrugged. "We have time to think it out. Is the indecision bugging you?"

"Stop it."

Yang suddenly heard a noise out in the woods. She angled to try and hear where it was coming from. She started to jog in the direction of the sound hoping to see what it was. When she crossed the camp, she caught sight of a familiar red cloak emerging from the wood.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted excitedly, waving at her.

"Is that your sister?" Blake asked as she caught up, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah." The blonde turned to her eyes to her girlfriend for a moment before turning back. Ruby was making a gesture, something like urging her forward. Then she saw a white-haired girl beside her sister– and a huge, lumbering beast behind her.

"Is your sister being chased by a bear?"

"Uh oh." In a quick motion, Yang unslung the camp shotgun from her shoulder. She aimed it, hoping it would do what it was intended for and scare the bear off.

"Don't fire!" Ruby suddenly shouted, her arms waving frantically. "It's a zombie!"

Yang glanced over at Blake, whose jaw had dropped. If the vegan girl was worried about normal zombies, a bear was certainly only going to make things worse. As Ruby and the white-haired girl ran past, Yang and Blake quickly turned to join them in their run.

"Ruby, what's going on!" Yang shouted as she jockeyed right up beside her sister.

"It's a bear zombie, we gotta run it around the lake," her sister explained, digging in her satchel. Ruby withdrew a bottle with a rag dug into it, and in her other hand was a lighter. She flicked it on, but couldn't seem to get the cloth to catch.

"What's going on!" the shrill white-haired girl shouted from behind them.

"I don't know! It isn't lighting!"

"Whiskey isn't flammable; you need something 100 proof for a molotov and you're supposed to mix it with gasoline or kerosene," Blake explained calmly as they ran.

"Ugh, you are such a dolt!" The girl shouted. "Are any of them flammable?"

Ruby dug into her satchel again. "Nope! Okay, we need another plan."

"There's kerosene over there." Yang pointed at a little shed on the outskirt of camp. The issue was that they had just started along the curve of the lake and the building, and the flammable oil, was growing more distant.

"Okay, you two peel off, we're gonna keep running. If it chases you, figure eight and begin to circle it around the lake; if it chases us, go get the kerosene and light him up."

Yang nodded, then veered away. Over her shoulder, she spotted the bear as it continued to follow Ruby and her companion. In a rush to keep the animal from eating her sister, she darted over to the storage shed.

She punched right through the locked but thin plywood door, cracking it in two before busting it with her shoulder and falling inside. Her eyes scanned the contents; lots of fuels, emergency items, and grounds-keeping equipment were all scattered messily within. Blake rushed in around her as she stood off the ground.

The black-haired girl lifted a blue plastic jug and something orange off of one of the shelves, and Yang grabbed two more bottles of kerosene. They ran out of the shed, but Yang realized there was a pretty serious issue. How were they supposed to get it on the bear?

The blonde looked around, then nodded at Blake and gestured to the roof they had been using as a lookout post. Adrenaline coursing through her, Yang climbed up effortlessly. Safely up on her perch, Yang used her hand a visor as she glanced out over the lake. Ruby was already nearly back.

"Ruby! Bring it along the side of us!" she shouted out.

Her sister waved in acknowledgment. The two girls picked up into a sprint, halting when they got below the roof. Blake dropped down whatever she had raided from the shed and then they uncapped the kerosene.

Ruby and her partner circled the cabin with the bear behind them. Yang did her best to keep the kerosene flowing, and Blake handed her a new jug when it emptied.

Ruby took off again towards the lake. Yang watched as the stranger peeled off just as they neared the water. Ruby tossed the orange gun to the other girl. Yang realized that it was a flare gun.

"Can you make the shot?" Ruby asked.

"Of course I can."

The white-haired girl lifted the flare gun, carefully aiming as the bear passed by, chasing the redheaded girl. With a pop, a red flash shot out, hitting the zombie beast square in the back.

It lit up in a blaze of glory. It didn't roar or moan or change at all, aside from the orange flames erupting from its fur. Even aflame it continued its quick but shambling walk. Yang stood open mouthed as Ruby continued to evade the charging monstrosity for another minute before it collapsed.

Her sister dropped to her knees, gasping for breath. Yang jumped off the roof, unable to keep from checking on Ruby for another moment. She could smell the burning, rotting flesh and she nearly threw up, but that wouldn't deter her.

"Ruby!"

"Yang!"

When the sisters got near each other, they stuck to each other like a pair of magnets. Yang practically squeezed the life out of her sister. It felt so reassuring to have her arms around the girl– to feel that she was real and alive. In her mind, she knew Ruby had to be fine, but in her heart she hadn't been able to stop worrying.

Eventually, she released the redheaded girl. She stared at the now smoking, charred zombie carcass. "Well, that was a thing."

She glanced back at Ruby for a moment with a smile– a smile that quickly faded off of her face. Yang's eyes spotted a red mark tucked just beneath the red cloak. Her hand darted out, tugging away the fabric to reveal an outline of teeth that had just barely broken the surface. Despair washed over Yang.

Not even a second passed before her eyes were filled with tears. "No, no, no, Ruby," Yang crushed the girl against her again, cradling her head with one hand and her back with the other. "How did that happen? You were supposed to be able to make it through things like this. You were supposed to be the survivor!"

"Yang, what are you talking about?" Ruby said, her voice muffled by Yang's chest.

"You're bitten! Oh god, Ruby, you can't be bitten! Tell me it isn't true!"

Ruby pushed herself away, then reached a hand up to where Yang was staring. Her fingers rubbed the mark for a few seconds. Suddenly, her sister turned scarlet, her head shrinking back into her body, hiding her neck. "It's not a bite."

"What?" Yang said, her sobs easing.

"Well, it's a bite, but it's not– um, it wasn't a zombie."

"Huh?"

"Ruby!" A voice interrupted. Yang's watery eyes trailed over to the white-haired girl who she hadn't met. The girl quickly grabbed Ruby by the shoulders, rubbing them gently. "Are you alright?"

"Wait a second– you're Weiss Schnee, aren't you?" Yang questioned, examining the girl up close for the first time.

The hair and the distinct scar stood out, along with the striking blue eyes. It had to be her; she had seen the girl on a few trashy gossip shows and spotted her in the distance once at one of the nightclubs she occasionally liked to visit. Yang rubbed the back of her head. Why was a billionaire lesbian playgirl running around with her sister? Her eyes widened as the puzzle pieces began to click together. The bite that wasn't from a zombie. The strange companion her sister had with her.

"You're right. She's Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Corporation. The largest food and pharmaceutical firm in world." Blake said as she strode up beside them.

"That's right–,"

"The same company known for animal cruelty and questionable sustainability practices."

"Hey. It's not like I run the damn thing."

"No, you just profit off of misery and pollution."

"What did you do to my sister?" Yang suddenly growled, interrupting their back and forth.

"Nothing," Weiss shot back quickly, taking a step back as she raked her eyes over Yang's aggressive stance.

"Yang, can I have a word with you," Ruby interrupted, "In private?"

She nearly said no, but she had trouble resisting her sister's puppy dog expression. Yang allowed herself to be dragged off into the distance. Ruby didn't stop until they were behind one of the cabins.

"I guess you put two and two together, huh?"

"Did she hurt you? Or– force herself on you? You can tell me Ruby. Grr, I'll kill that girl, I swear–,"

"No, nothing like that. I kissed _her_. Yang, I need to tell you something. The truth is, well– I'm gay. I've always been too scared to tell you or Uncle Qrow. But I've known for awhile."

Yang took a step back in shock. Her eyes closed tightly for a moment. "Oh, that makes a lot more sense."

"Yeah, and I really like her. She's a little rough around the edges, but once you get to know her–,"

"Wait, do you not know who that is?"

"No." Ruby looked at her, then her brows drew together in confusion. "Is she famous or something?"

"Oh sis, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into.**"**

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I've heard around that authors are getting annoyed with the show's writing. I am one them, but I plan on finishing this story no matter what– too much fun stuff planned. In the spirit of being open with my readers, I'm going to give you two little hints about things to come down the road.  
**

**1. Penny will eventually be in this story. She will not be a real girl.**

**2. Why does Blake know the proper way to make a Molotov cocktail?**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"What do you think will make the worst zombie animal?"

"Birds."

"What? Why?" Weiss looked at Ruby like she was crazy.

"Well," Ruby said, sticking a finger in the air as she walked beside Weiss. "They can fly, they can swarm, and if they come swooping down with speed there's no way to avoid them. We aren't going to shoot our way out of a flock of zombie seagulls."

"Ruby, zombies can't even run. How the hell are they going to fly? I'm pretty sure a zombie bird would just flop around on the ground helplessly," Weiss explained, running her hands over the products in the small commissary on the camp ground. Her fingers gripped a toothbrush. "Ah, you have no idea how glad I am to see this."

"Me too."

"What!? Are you saying my breath stinks?" Weiss said with narrow eyes, her voice growing shrill. She spun around and tightened her lip.

"No, you've been chewing those mints. You uh– tasted fine. Good. But I forgot mine too."

"I saw a mine the last time I looked in your bag. You're really telling me you forgot a toothbrush?" Weiss shook her head at Ruby when she gave a sheepish grin. "You are a real dunce."

"Yeah, I keep pre-packed bags for every kind of apocalypse, but I never remember my toothbrush, even just going on a vacation." Ruby grabbed a red toothbrush from the shelf. "It's not a mine, it's a motion detector."

"Yeah, clever."

Ruby sort of wandered off, only half watching the other girl in the mirror attached to the ceiling of the little shop. She wondered if shoplifting was really that much of a problem. If that was the case she was glad because she could watch Weiss without her knowing.

A chain of nervous glances suddenly came from the white-haired girl pointed in Ruby's direction. Ruby was careful not to let her curiosity show on her face, watching mirror Weiss out of the corner of her eye.

The girl reached out and grabbed a little stuffed bear from the shelf. The rare, whimsical smile that graced her made a matching one pop onto Ruby's face. Ruby feigned checking a few more boxes on the shelf as she watched mirror Weiss give it a little squeeze before putting it back and replacing her cool facade.

How could this be the same girl Yang told her about? Sure she was bossy and shrill and clearly a little spoiled. Okay, a lot spoiled. But there was a sweetness Ruby could tell that Weiss would show to anyone she didn't keep at an arm's length.

How could she have a bedroom with a revolving door?

How could a girl so young have drug and alcohol problems?

How could a girl who squeezed teddy bears be like that?

"Weiss, what do you like about me?"

Mirror Weiss's brow drew into an angry furrow, and Ruby could see eyes so heated she was scared they'd melt a hole in the back of her head. "Yeah, I'm not going to answer that."

"It's only fair. Since I had to answer, you do too."

There was a long, long minute while Mirror Weiss seemed to contemplate what to say. Ruby thought the way her eyes darted side to side was cute. Thin, pale arms curled around Weiss's stomach as she cradled her own body. They rose slowly and she rubbed them gently up and down her arms.

"I don't like you. Certainly not in any romantic way," Weiss said, her voice harsh. "You're annoying and loud. You seem to almost get us killed every few minutes and you come up with the dumbest plans. You're way too childish for me," she began to rattle off, her cadence speeding up and growing more grating.

But Ruby just stared at the girl in the mirror. The expression on Weiss's face didn't match her words. Her mouth was neutral and moved slowly. Her eyes looked lonely and desolate; she flinched and shivered with each word. Mirror Weiss rubbed her arms more fervently as she talked, as though she was trapped in a blizzard.

"Weiss. Are you trying to push me away?"

Weiss jumped a little and the look of sadness vanished into one of anger. "Of course not," she spat out as Ruby turned to look her directly.

"Why are you being difficult? I know you like me."

"No, I don't."

"You do."

"I don't."

This repeated for awhile, Weiss drawing closer and angrier with each exchange. Nose to nose, she began to shake. Ruby finally stopped with a squeak, thinking she might have pushed Weiss too far. If the girl was as experienced as Yang had said, then Weiss could have gently touched Ruby's stomach and kissed her with fire and passion without liking her. That hurt her feelings a little. But Weiss was ready to erupt, and it was probably going to physically hurt.

"Fine! I like that you're strong and confident, and you're stupidly cute!" Weiss practically screamed.

"Cute?" Ruby squeaked.

"Yes! You've got that god damned sweet smile! Oh, and you have to have the exact body type that I like! You– stupid– little– perfect– sweet– idiot! There. Are you happy now?" Weiss snarled, staring at her with fury.

Ruby darted forward and planted a soft little peck on the girl's lips, causing her to immediately soften. "I am." Ruby pulled Weiss tightly against her.

Weiss's eyes planted firmly on the wall to the side at them. Or at least anywhere but at Ruby. "You really do need that toothbrush."

* * *

"I want to hurt that girl."

"Don't claw her eyes out," Yang said, aiming a smile at her catty girlfriend. "But maybe I'll join you. She's got my baby sister wrapped around her little finger. I tried to warn Ruby, but I just know she didn't believe me. Just waved me off like she always does."

Blake relaxed a little, watching her girlfriend. "Sorry, I'm getting hung up on Weiss. I just can't believe a sweet girl like Velvet didn't make it but Weiss Schnee did."

Yang didn't want to tell Blake that was the way a crueler world worked. Survival of the fittest. She hadn't missed the intimidating silver sword hanging from Weiss's hip, the holster under her jacket, or her cavalier attitude in the face of death. She doubted Weiss would risk breaking a nail even in a life or death situation, but she looked intimidating. Sensitive Blake would need to harden her heart to make it.

"Your sister seems nice. She's been out there; I'm surprised she's in such a good mood."

"Yeah, I thought she'd be worse for wear. She had blood on her too. But no, she pops in being chased by a bear, oddly unaffected, and then comes out of the closet. This has been a weird day."

"She's gay?"

"Yeah, and so is Weiss, and you, and I'm bi, so can we please just be a couple in front of–,"

"You're bi?"

Yang shrugged. "So what?"

Suddenly, Blake was glaring at her. Her brows drew so hard there was a straight crease right between them. Her girlfriend could glare with true hatred. "I thought when you were ogling cute boys you were just keeping people off of the scent."

"Oh. Uh oh." Yang rubbed at the back of her neck, unsure of what to say to avoid an argument.

"Yang, get out here!" her sister shouted from outside. "Now!"

The two girls in the cabin stared at each other with wide eyes. Whatever fight they were about to have would need to be put on hold. Both of them frantically scrambled out of the cabin, only to be greeted by a very shocking sight.

Both Weiss and Ruby were laughing, backing up slowly from their pursuer. Her sister always had a raucous, rapid laugh when something really tickled her funny bone. It was a fairly muscular, mustachioed man. In a dress. In the middle of the woods. It didn't even have a wig or make-up.

Yang felt Blake squeeze up against her back. "What are you two doing!" her girlfriend said sternly as the two girls played keep away with the zombie in the floral print dress.

"He's in a dress, oh my gosh," Weiss said through heaving laughter. "This is the best thing so far. Why do you think he was in the middle of the woods?"

After a quick circle around the grasping ghoul, Weiss gave Ruby a high-five and then darted away again. A fair distance out, she laughed so hard she had to squeeze her arms against her ribs.

"Stop playing around!" Blake shouted. "That thing is dangerous!"

"Sorry," Ruby said, starting to wipe a tear from her eye. "This is almost as good as the mascot suit. You remember the him, right?"

Weiss nodded, still smiling. When Ruby went to reach for the little climbing axe on her hip Weiss laid her hand over Ruby's to stop her. A little growl formed in the back of Yang's throat at the easy touch and humor between the two. She had to protect her little sister. She stepped out, ready to throw the cross-dressing zombie.

"You know that it's my turn," Weiss said through her laughter, causing Yang to halt.

Was the billionaire lesbian playgirl heiress really going to kill a zombie?

The spoiled girl was a white flash. After a quick lunge that Yang could barely follow, the clearly real silver rapier was through the zombie's left eye. With a sickening squelch, Weiss pulled the blade out.

"Gross," Weiss said, holding her weapon far from her body and scraping the skewered eye off of her blade on a nearby post before doubling over in laughter again.

Ruby hadn't even stopped laughing. When Yang heard Blake vomit behind her, the contagious queasy feeling spread to her and she darted away too, heaving her morning oatmeal out around the side of the cabin. She looked out the corner of her eye, where Ruby and Weiss were propped up against each other to keep from falling over. _'What the hell__ happened __to my sweet baby sis__?'_

* * *

"Is it a mess out there?" Blake asked, her voice somber.

They were scattered around the cabin, all ready for bed but not yet tired enough to sleep. Weiss looked at Ruby's sister's friend. She had the sexy smoldering look down, that was for sure, but Weiss could tell she was one of the environmentalists who hated her company. She had no say in day to day operations, but that clearly didn't matter to the girl.

"Weiss is the only other living person I found. Vale City is completely gone. I think it's best if we head for Fort Beacon."

Ruby's sister, Yang, gave a quick nod. Weiss couldn't help but stare at her. The girl– woman seemed more appropriate– had an easy smile, at least directed at everyone but Weiss. She had the body of a model; more accurately she looked like she should pose to be painted on the side of a bomb. With good looks and a body that could cause shell-shock, it was clear that this woman was the definition of bombshell.

Her tank top showed off a body akin to Ruby, with well muscled arms and abs you could see through the thin fabric. The major difference was definitely the chest. But Weiss had to admit to herself that she liked the younger sister more.

Her eyes drifted over to Ruby, who began to go over travel plans and such. Weiss chose to stay quiet, knowing that half of the confirmed living population hated her. But Ruby liked her, and that thought brought a slight smirk came to her lips. She lost track of the conversation, but apparently it looped around to her.

"How did you know how to do that?" Yang asked in her direction, an accusatory tone clear in her voice.

"She's a fencing champion," Blake explained quickly.

Suddenly, Weiss felt her stomach tighten as one of her better kept secrets was spilled by a stranger. "I've always worn a mask and competed with a false name. How did you know that?"

The raven-haired girl looked taken aback. "I– well– I think anyone could could figure out that Snow White was you. Your hair color isn't common."

Weiss watched the girl who knew a little too much about her carefully.

"Anyway," Yang drew out, "I'm glad you're here, sis. It must've been rough out there."

Ruby shrugged. "Not really. You saw, zekes are a joke. I mean, Weiss got in a car accident then later that day killed, what, twenty?"

Weiss glanced down at her. "You got a few, but there were the six on the second floor, so, yeah, that sounds about right. That doesn't count the ones on the road either."

"Oh, but there was the warthog."

Before Weiss could stop it, a snort came from her nose. "Oh yeah, those things are dangerous. We have to think of a way to deal with that."

"What, like a pig?" Blake asked.

"No, it's a mountain lion. It's a long story, you had to be there" Ruby said with a chuckle.

Weiss watched Ruby's sister carefully. Yang didn't look amused by their inside joke. She looked like she outright hated it.

* * *

Yang couldn't fall asleep. She laid in the silent, cold darkness and Blake was down on the floor beside her. Even just as friends, and even though Ruby and Weiss were busy being in lesbians with each other, Blake refused to share the bed. That made Yang a little angry. Her little sister came out and she couldn't reassure the girl properly because she had to keep her relationship private– From her newly outed sister and the gayest girl on the planet.

She didn't_ have_ to be with Blake. She could go get literally anyone, but no. She had to have Blake. Yang had to love the damn girl. Not that she had told Blake that, but Yang did love her. There weren't a lot of reasons for a brash, confident girl like Yang to stay closeted, but love was one of them.

So with Ruby and Weiss around she was stuck with cold nights and secret signs of affection.

She heard rustling coming from the ground. Then the sound of a zipper as one of the two girls nestled between the cabin's two beds rose up.

"Weiss?" she heard Ruby whisper in the still night air. "Are you up?"

"I am now," the heiress answered groggily. "You're going to wake them up."

"Psh, Blake is snoring and Yang always sleeps like the dead."

Yang couldn't turn around now, hoping that she could learn something about whatever twisted relationship the two shared. Her sister was sweet and innocent, and Weiss was very, very not.

She heard Ruby take a step forward then a dull thud. The girl hissed sharply, and Yang heard her hopping.

"Ruby? What happened?"

"I stubbed my pinky toe."

"Then be quiet," Weiss hissed back, nearly causing Yang to scoff.

"No, it hurts." She heard the rustling of what must have been barefoot on pillow. "Kiss it and make it better."

Yang knew her sister must have had an awkward smile. Ruby had a bad habit of putting her foot in her mouth. Yang heard a soft pucker of lips. _'Oh, perfect, she put her foot in someone else__'__s mouth.'_

"Weiss? Stop," Ruby said through a giggle, "that tickles."

It was quiet, but the slight noise amplified in Yang's mind. She couldn't hear anything but the suckling sound. At least until her sister released a whimpering moan.

The cold of night was gone– her fury threatened to immolate her blankets and everyone in the cabin. That was her baby sister. Her baby sister was getting her toes sucked on and _liked it. _If she had known this was going to happen, she wouldn't have told them the showers still worked.

There was a soft pop. "What? I just did what you told me." There was a moment of pause. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah. It's funny; this is the most hurt I've gotten this whole time."

Weiss's soft laughter filled the air. "So, what did you want?"

"I just– that's a cheap sleeping bag. I wanted to make sure you weren't cold."

"I'm perfectly fine."

"You don't have to act tough, and you don't have to worry about them seeing; I think it's impossible for Yang to wake up before me."

"Wait, are you offering to share a bag again?"

"No– wait– well, I thought it would be okay, since we did it last night, and we're dressed this time."

That wasn't something Yang wanted to hear her sister say.

"Not that it matters, I guess. I'm cold, actually. I– sharing a bag would be nice, if you want, of course, but you don't–,"

"I'm pretty sure you want to stop talking but it'd be more awkward to end the conversation where you left it, so I'm going to give you an out. Stop talking."

Ruby squeaked a little. "Sorry."

Yang could just imagine the look her sister must have had. Something akin to a kicked puppy. Nothing hurt more than a bad first crush. Weiss was probably just going to blow her off after whatever they did the night before.

"Get in here," Weiss said.

Yang heard the rustling of her sister sliding into the white-haired predator's bed.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything you're uncomfortable with," Weiss said.

"Thanks. So, what do you think of Yang?"

"She seems nice. She hates me," Weiss said, dejection clear on her voice and sending a stab through Yang's heart, regardless of how justified it was. "I'm going to try and be nice."

"Yang just needs to get to know you. I– well, I was scared she wouldn't accept that I was gay– but I also knew she'd disapprove of whoever I wanted to date. She's always been kind of protective of me."

"I get it. I'm sure she told you about me. I don't have the best reputation–,"

Yang heard the sound of another soft kiss.

"Don't worry about a thing," Ruby said. "Just give it time."

"Thanks. I don't need you comforting me."

"I know, I know."

There was another shift of their bodies on the bed.

"What is– uh– are you that happy to be in here with me?" Weiss asked suddenly.

A master of innuendos herself, Yang immediately knew what was happening– and she hated it.

"That's not me! Get your mind out of the gutter. I saw you hug this little guy."

"What! You saw that!" Weiss seethed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I would never do anything like that." The soft easiness between the two faded immediately as Weiss's voice transformed into something more appropriate for a blue blooded brat.

"I grabbed it for you."

The resulting sound must have been Weiss rolling over to face away from Ruby. Yang took a risk and suddenly jerked her body, flopping onto her back. Neither girl seemed to notice, so she cracked an eye open.

She saw Ruby propped on one arm, a stuffed white bear in her free hand. Her sister pressed the bear into Weiss's cheek and made it nuzzle her. After a few moments, Weiss snatched the bear away. Ruby giggled and relaxed down, draping an arm over Weiss.

"Is your toe fine?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Let's hope that's the most you ever get hurt. I– I don't dislike you. Goodnight Ruby."

"Sleep tight, Weiss."

After a few moments the two girls were breathing softly, not that Yang could hear it well over her girlfriend's deep snoring. She sat up and stared. Weiss had rolled over and was gently cradling Ruby with an innocent, content smile. Yang flopped back down, unsure of what to think of the girl.

* * *

**A/N: Remember when I said I wasn't going to drop this? I'm getting closer to dropping this. It's not even that White Rose isn't not canon, because I actually prefer to write for ambiguous ships. It seems like the further we get into the second season the less motivated I am. I'm not going to soap box about the shows problems. But without motivation I'm not going to produce anything up to the standard I set for myself. I'll hold out for a few more episodes and try, but if I do drop it I'll fix up the outline I have and release it so you know what was going to happen. **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ruby did the best she could to wipe the dirt from her hands. It stuck to her military jacket and blended into the dark brown, but in no way was she clean. She flicked away her bangs and took a few deep breaths to try and settle her racing heart.

Her eyes darted away from their fixed point on the ground over to a group of girls from her school standing around and talking about nothing in particular. They rested a moment longer on the girl in the center. Her name was Coco. She was moderately pretty, with long brunette hair cutely draped around her shoulder. The girl was well known as a dorky gamer, popular enough with guys but just as gay as Ruby.

Ruby straightened her clothes out. Fresh from the Forever Fall, she smelled of sweat and dirt barely masked by wild roses that she rubbed on herself. She decided to end her spring break, a week long foray into the woods with nothing but the clothes on her back, a little early. Instead of heading home she wandered across the highway that skirted the reserve and over to the mall.

She was glad that she did. _'Come on Ruby, you can do this. You scared away a bear with nothing__; j__ust stared him down and made him run. __You don't have to be afraid of girls. __You can talk to your crush. You can at least become friends with her. You can talk about guns or something.' _

Her eyes darted over again. She took three quick breaths and walked over to them. "Um, hi."

Coco looked her up and down. "Hello?" The group of girls just stared at her. "You've got some dirt – everywhere."

"I was, um, gardening. Just stopped by the mall. My name is Ruby. I go to Central High too." The redheaded girl just stood there, a half smile on her face as she tucked her dirty hands into her pockets.

"Well? Is there something that you wanted?"

"No, not really." Ruby kicked at the ground, her muddy boot leaving a little streak on the sidewalk. "I– uh– I heard that you like–,"

"Oh my gosh," the second brunette haired girl called out, glancing up from her phone for the first time. "Yatsuhashi is throwing a bonfire out in the woods. We've got to leave, like, right now."

Coco smiled at the girl. "Sounds fun." Coco turned to Ruby momentarily. "Sorry, we have to get going. It was nice meeting you, uh, Judy."

The pack of girls were gone by the time Ruby could even get a finger up and start to correct her. "It's Ruby," she said to no one in particular. The finger, along with her whole body, slumped down. After a moment, she dug out her phone and dialed the only contact.

"Hi Yang, could you come pick me up at the Vytal mall? No, no, I just decided to come back early, I'm feeling fine. Yes everything is alright. Just pick me up. No, I don't want to buy anything. No, I'm not in the mood for a movie, I just want to go home. Thanks, I'll see you soon."

Ruby snapped her phone shut and rested her head against it for a moment before tucking it into her only clean pocket. Ruby turned and stared at her reflection in the store window. Her hair was a greasy mess, she had streaks of dirt on her face, and a there was a little blood on the bit of shirt that stuck out from her jacket. "Damn it," she said, having not realized how awful she must have looked. "You're such an idiot, Ruby."

Her eyes focused on the beautiful red dress that draped elegantly off of the mannequin inside. She stared at it and released a sigh. _'I could never wear__ something like that__. I'd get laughed at for even trying.' _The glass wasn't the only thing keeping her from it. Ruby pressed a hand to the clean window. When she pulled it away, there was dusty brown hand print, and she closed her eyes.

"Ruby? Earth to Ruby." Yang waved a hand in front of Ruby's face, causing her to jolt out of her reverie.

After a quick glance at her sister's smile, she looked back into the store front. Coco slammed a hand to the glass as she snapped her teeth at the girls that she didn't understand she couldn't get to. Spatters of blood streaked down and a bloody hand print rested exactly where Ruby had left hers.

"Something the matter?" Weiss asked, stepping beside Ruby.

Ruby turned away from her first crush to her newest. "No, it's nothing." A part of her wanted to go in and put Coco out of her misery. Those were the only words they had ever exchanged, but she had still liked the girl. Suddenly, an arm slung its way around her shoulder.

"Okay Ruby. We're going to start curing that social retardation-,"

"You're a terrible person," Blake interrupted. "Don't use that word."

"Shut up. As I was saying, the first step is shopping."

"You can't be serious," Blake said. "That place is full of those things."

Weiss waved her off. "They're nothing we can't handle. The most important thing is teaching Ruby the finer arts of being a woman."

"I think you've done enough of that," Yang said with a scoff.

Weiss flushed red. "What are you talking about? Be quiet!"

"No, it's a bad idea. We shouldn't risk our lives to go shopping," Blake added, stepping between Weiss and Yang.

"Just shut up and let me dress Ruby in cute clothes!" Weiss practically screamed, stomping her foot on the ground and straightening her arms out in a huff, silencing everyone – even Coco.

There was a moment while none of the other girls could even think of something to say. Ruby eventually broke the silence. "Don't worry, the zekes won't be a problem, I have a plan."

"Oh perfect," Weiss said rolling her eyes. "I'm sure this will go great."

* * *

If there was any hesitation about getting new clothes, it vanished after luring out the zombies and setting them ablaze. The rancid smell of smoke and burning flesh clung to the four girls, even as they passed through the glass doors.

There were a few stragglers who didn't get out of the department store. Ruby and Weiss did a quick sweep, taking out anything they came across. Yang just stood, shotgun in hand, in front of Blake, shaking a little but for the most part stoically protecting the girl.

Weiss finished her round, walking up beside Ruby after checking that the metal gate that separated the store from the mall's central area was down. A zombie stared her down, slowly dragging a hideously mangled, twisted leg as it lurched, inch by inch towards her. It snapped its teeth, craning its neck forward to try and get its mouth as close as possible even though the weight of its useless body was holding it back.

"Someone you know?" Weiss asked, unsure as to why Ruby hadn't killed it.

"Not anymore."

Weiss saw Ruby grip her climbing axe tightly for a moment, then clipped it back onto her belt. She slung her rifle around, pointing it at the approaching former girl.

"Do you want me to do it?" Weiss asked.

"No, I have to." When the tip of the barrel pressed into zombie skin, she squeezed the trigger, sending a crack echoing through the store.

Ruby's body slumped for a moment, then she perked up. "Right, so, shopping."

"We don't have to."

Was that really someone Ruby knew? Shouldn't the girl be having some kind of emotional crisis or something? Ruby looked just happy as she always did.

Ruby gave a dismissive hand wave at Weiss and snorted. "Nah. I've always wanted to go shopping with a friend." Ruby stood still for a moment. "Girlfriend?" she added with a slight squeak.

"We're not girlfriends." Weiss let her eyes scan around the department store. "What's your favorite color?"

"Uh, I don't know. I usually just wear brown or dark green. Whatever they would have the military surplus store."

"That's just sad." Weiss tilted her head. Admittedly, she usually watched Ruby's very unique silver eyes closely. They kept darting back to something behind Weiss. She turned and followed the erratic eye line.

Ruby kept glancing at the pretty red dress in the display. It was flowing silk and looked around the right size. It would be a little short, but it went well with Ruby's coloring. Yes, the survival freak would be cute in it, and she would probably look very sexy with her strong shoulders and back exposed.

Weiss turned back and smiled at Ruby, who squeaked and jumped a little. "Let's get you in that dress."

"What? No, there's no way I could wear something like that. It'd be so– impractical."

"You're just going to try it on. Obviously we can't be running around killing zombies in dresses." Weiss smiled at Ruby before it dissolved into a concerned stare. The girl faced down zombies and warthogs and bears without hesitation. It was silly that she looked so scared of putting on a dress. But there she was, shivering, eyes darting around. Where was all of that confidence?

"Do you promise not to laugh at me?"

Weiss could feel her heart skip a beat as Ruby nervously kicked at the ground, sparing a brief glance up from it to meet her eyes only for a moment. "Of course I won't, you dolt."

* * *

When Yang saw Ruby and Weiss start to take dresses off of the mannequins, she took that as a sign that they were relatively safe from the living dead. She still moved slowly, her girlfriend tucked against her back and constantly surveying their surroundings.

"Let me go find a changing room," Weiss said as Yang approached. The white haired girl roamed away by herself, walking into the nearby alcove and out of sight.

"I think you'll look good in that," Yang said, smiling at her sister.

Ruby looked up from the dress that she held almost reverently. Her thumbs rubbed against the fabric, squeezing it and sliding it between her fingers. "Do you know what this is made of? It feels so good."

"I think it's just silk."

"It's kind of like how Weiss' skin feels," Ruby said under her breath.

Yang grimaced. Her sister had a bad habit of not filtering her speech. "Yup, that's not something you tell your big sis."

Ruby made a cute little peeping noise and blushed. "Sorry."

"Occupied," Weiss's voice called from around the corner in an almost bored droll. Then a gunshot.

"Occupied." Another shot.

"Occupied." Another shot.

"Oh, found a free one. Come on Ruby!" the heiress called out.

Ruby gave a cheerful smile before darting back to where Weiss was. Yang's lips slowly curled into a gentle smile. When she turned to watch the store for more zombies, Blake gave her a look.

"What are you so happy about? Aren't you worried about those zombies?" Blake said, nervously staring at the shaking metal grating they could see in the distance over the racks of clothes.

"Of course. But it's kind of nice seeing my sister act like a normal girl. She never really had friends to do things like this with."

"You don't mind that her new friend is Weiss?"

"Can't lie, it pisses me off. But Ruby does seem happy with her." Yang glanced over to Blake, whose hand hadn't slipped from the machete that she pulled from shed in the camp. "I think you can relax a little."

Yang scanned over the store and spotted a nearby stand with sunglasses. Blake raised an eyebrow at her, which Yang knew meant she was smiling so wide that her mouth was fully open. Her girlfriend always said it made her look like an idiot, but she knew that Blake liked it.

She stepped over and threw on a new pair of aviators that had caught her eyes. A camper had broken the pair she brought with her. "How do I look?"

"Good." Blake droned out in a monotone voice as her shoulder's seemed settle.

Yang smiled, then decided to check in on her sister. She rounded the corner, then took a step back before the two girls noticed her. Blake bumped into her back, then peered around her. Without electricity, the alcove was dark and bathed in only a slight light from the store. Weiss was leading Ruby in a slow dance, swinging her away and rotating her, not so subtly appreciating the view.

"Not bad, Ruby."

"Really? Things like this don't really suit me."

"Nonsense, you look very – presentable." Weiss pulled Ruby back in, holding her hands as they continued to sway.

Weiss was an idiot. Ruby looked incredible. Yang couldn't even believe that the girl in the red dress was her sister. The only magazine cover Ruby could have been on was Soldier of Fortune, but now she looked like she belonged on Vogue. It was backless, and normally Yang wouldn't have even considered letting her baby sister wear something that scandalous. But her well defined and strong back made her look more like an adult than Yang thought possible.

Yang nearly darted out to separate them when Weiss' arms wrapped around that back.

"Oh, right. Presentable" Ruby's eyes stayed planted on the floor, avoiding eye contact.

Weiss released an exasperated sigh. "You look beautiful, alright? Damn you and your puppy dog eyes."

They shifted into each others arms. Ruby leaned up and gave Weiss a cute little peck. Weiss started to lean in for a deeper kiss and her hands slid down to settle on Ruby's hips, and that was Yang's signal to come out.

"Aw, my baby sis looks so cute," she dragged out as she approached.

The two girls darted away from each other. "Let's change back," Weiss said, straightening out the white sundress she had put on and not risking a glance at Yang.

Yang had to stifle a laugh at the two of them blushing. She might hate Weiss, but it was just too damn cute.

* * *

"What do you think the worse thing has been so far?" Ruby asked, flicking away some hair that had fallen into her eyes. They were all sitting in a circle on the roof of the department store. Cold darkness had descended while they shopped. Two tents were pitched beside them, but it wasn't quite late enough to sleep.

Weiss seemed to consider the question carefully. "Waiting for the elevator doors to close in the museum with them chasing me. It was such a big horde, and I just felt so– powerless."

"Well, I haven't been out here that long," Yang said, joining in on the pointless chatter for the first time. "But how was being chased by a bear not the worst thing?"

"Yes, it was bad. But at least there was something we could do. I mean, it was just a bear."

"I don't know. I'd find the whole situation _unbearable."_

Yang flashed another open mouth smile and put on her sunglasses. Weiss reached into her new crop jacket, drew her revolver, and aimed directly at Yang's face; the moment probably should have been tense but Weiss didn't pull back the hammer. Ruby just laughed and pulled the gun down. Their hands didn't separate once the weapon was put away.

Blake took a deep breath. Their day of travel had consisted of an endless stream of very stupid conversations between Ruby and Weiss. Yang kept saying how in command of the situation Ruby was supposed to be, but they seemed unfocused and it was very disconcerting. Even Yang seemed to be relaxing but Blake couldn't with the constant call of zombies on the air.

"Okay so, two tents. How are we sleeping?"

"I think it'd be best if Ruby–," Weiss started.

"Hey sis, how about me and you share?" Yang interrupted, earning a glare from Weiss. "It's been awhile since we've had one of our little slumber parties. I'll even tell you a story to help you sleep. Like I did, what was it, last month?"

"Yang!" Ruby nearly screamed, blushing red. She turned to Weiss, squeezing her hand even harder. "She's um, she's kidding."

Weiss cast a glance over at Yang, giving her a shrewd look before shaking her head.

"Nope, my sister loves it when I read her fairy tales."

Yang pulled her little sister away, who protested lightly, and cast a sneer at Weiss as they walked past. Blake let out a sigh; her girlfriend abandoned her and she was going to spend her first night in the world of the living dead sharing a tent with Weiss Schnee. That was just perfect.

Once she crawled into the tent it was difficult to get comfortable. Even through her sleeping bag and the tent's floor she could feel cold concrete. Coupled for the ghoulish moans that echoed on the air Blake knew that there was no way she was going to sleep. She peeled herself out, casting a quick glare to Yang's tent before wandering over to the edge of the roof and staring towards the small town of Vytal far in the distance.

A part of her held on to the hope that they'd leave the forest and find civilization just fine. Instead, she got the unceasing ghoulish chorus. The only thing that interrupted it was footsteps behind her. She was a little shocked when she turned to see Weiss approaching.

"Trouble sleeping?" Weiss asked as she walked over and leaned onto the stone edge of the roof beside Blake.

"Does that noise ever stop?"

"No." Weiss said shaking her head. "That's why we talk. I saw you looking at us like we're crazy. I didn't get it either when Ruby just kept on her endless rants, but if you don't drown it out with something you have to listen to that all day and all night."

Blake didn't respond, choosing to stare out over the desolate remains of the world. That made sense, because this noise was getting to her. How could Ruby and Weiss have figured out so much more of the new world? They were only out a day or two longer. They both seemed like strange, otherworldly creatures. Ruby and Weiss seemed like ephemeral beings who had been living their whole lives in this world that Blake and Yang suddenly found themselves in.

"How are you so calm? You're a rich, spoiled industrialist, shouldn't you be a gibbering mess?"

"Gee, thanks. It's because I know we're going to survive."

"How can you know that? It's so easy to die, and you two do nothing but take risks. You had to run from an undead bear. You made us come into this stupid mall so you could change your clothes. It doesn't seem like you're taking this seriously at all."

"I did it so we could have fun. I've resolved myself to live. Not survive. To keep living. If we cower in fear like you clearly want, we might as well already be zombies. If you are just going to whine and hide, you may as well jump off of this roof now and save us some trouble."

"What?"

"You heard me. You're weak and pathetic and you're only going to make it harder on the rest of us." Weiss crossed her arms over her chest, her brow relaxing for the first time. "Don't tell Ruby this, but she's the reason why I can be so brave. Knowing she has my back and wanting to be able to watch hers– it makes me want to be more than I am. She's going to spread herself thin looking after her sister and I. I'd hoped you could be a partner for Yang, but we clearly can't trust you to do anything. You're dead weight, and if you want to live, you're going to have to step it up."

Weiss spun on her heel and stormed away in a huff before Blake could even respond.

Blake stared out into the dark night again, feeling pathetic and a little mad. Mostly because Weiss was right; things were dangerous and she wasn't helping. She did need to protect Yang. It was pathetic that she cowered behind a girl that she loved when the world was rife with danger. Even if that girl abandoned her in a vain attempt to protect her sister's probably already lost chastity.

Something small thudded against the back of her head. She spun and caught a flash of white hair as it darted back into their tent. Her eyes trailed down and she saw a little plastic container filled with ear plugs.

"Is she nice or is she a bitch?" Blake asked herself, lifting the gift from the ground and examining it carefully.

* * *

**A/N: I'm feeling a bit better after watching a zombie movie marathon. It sort of reminded me that people are supposed to be dying. Some stuff kind of clicked. So be excited.  
**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Elegant fingers tipped a glass from side to side. A little yellow glob shifted in clear, thick, viscous sludge like a disgusting lava lamp. Morning sunshine beat against overly sensitive eyes, lending the foul concoction the appropriate glow. Weiss let her heavy lids drop and released a sigh.

"Do I have to?"

"You know that you'll feel better. You're the one who does this to yourself. You should be grateful that I don't handle this the way other parents do with cigarettes, because I doubt that a forty sounds appetizing right now."

"It sounds better than a raw egg," Weiss said before tossing the prairie oyster back. She manage to resist the urge to gag as the sludge made its way through her gullet. She slapped her lips together a few times.

With a wave of her hand, a maid– one at present likely still trying to scratch her way into an empty room– stepped over and extended a silver tray. The heiress took the neatly folded napkin from the center and patted down her lips.

With another gesture, a tray with a plate of pancakes was set in front of her with such practiced perfection that it didn't make a sound or disturb the smooth white tablecloth.

Weiss extended her hand into the open space and the handle of a steaming mug of black coffee found its way in. She sipped at the piping hot liquid energy, feeling herself returning to the land of the living.

"Weiss, we need to talk."

Her eyes glanced up to her father who sat across from her. Even seated, he was a tall man. There was a time when he was well filled in, but he had grown gaunt over the last two years. His thinning cheeks still held the dying traces of smile lines.

"I know things have been hard, but you can't keep doing this, Weiss." He waved his hands, and a plate of eggs and bacon was placed in front of him. "The drinking, the partying, the air of celebrity and bitchiness you've started carrying around–,"

"It's not an air of bitchiness, I'm just a bitch."

Her father released a sigh. "What happened to you? You used to always work so hard. I remember one time, I think you were six, maybe seven– no, six. Definitely six. You came into my office, and my secretary was trying to get you to draw or play or do something children do, but you threw a tantrum until we let you help out. I may be the only parent who would ever think this, but you looked so adorable doing paperwork. What happened to the girl that wanted to be the CEO? What happened to my daughter?"

"We both know I can't compete with Winter. Besides, things– they've changed. I've changed. You've changed, Father. What happened to my daddy? The one who actually thought about how his actions would make me feel?"

Her father straightened out his tie, adjusting his collar up a little. Weiss knew what was right beneath the stiff, ironed fabric. A friction burn that ran around his neck. "I'm sorry. It's just that you always wanted to help people, and it seems like all you ever want to do is help yourself."

"Are you saying that I'm the selfish one?"

"No. Of course not." He stood perfectly still for a moment, then rubbed a hand through his precisely styled hair. "You're in the public eye, Weiss. But not everything you do will be what they see. They only like to report the worst of your behavior. If you keep this up, everyone will think of you as just a party girl. That's all anyone will ever think you are. I don't think you understand how permanent your reputation is."

"I know, and I hate it. But I'm not going to stop. It just doesn't matter to me anymore." Weiss stood abruptly; the chair was half out from under her before a butler managed to pull the rest of the way. As she stormed out of the room, a maid opened the door and closed it softly behind her. After a single, sharp knock, the maid reopened the door and then slammed it shut.

* * *

Weiss kicked open the door to the little gas station with such force that it crashed on its hinges and recoiled back into her. Her right hand shot out to brace it while her left lunged forward, plunging her rapier deep into the temple of an approaching zombie– according to his name-tag, Tommy. Her foot pressed against Tommy's chest, knocking the dead weight off of her weapon. Once he toppled over, she wiped the blood and mud off the sole of her shoe onto him.

The three other girls filed in after her. Weiss stepped over Tommy with a little hop, making sure not to get any more blood on her boots. She paused, her eyes raking over the cheap metal shelves with row after row of junk food and candy.

Weiss wandered around until she found the snack cakes she craved. She tucked a few spares into the messenger bag that she had grabbed at the mall. Her plan was to create a pack of essentials just like Ruby.

"Did you sleep alright?" Weiss asked as she passed behind Blake on her way to the aisle with little packets of medication.

Blake didn't turn around. "Yes. Thank you for the earplugs."

Weiss began to scoop aspirin and antacid into her bag. "About what I said last night. It may have been rude; I certainly wouldn't normally tell a person to jump off of a roof. I wanted to apologize."

"It was in poor taste."

"Well, that's why I'm apologizing. Accept it or don't."

"Fine. You were right anyway." Blake crossed her arms, scanning over the selection. The slight glower never left her face.

"Of course I am. These things are nothing. Fear is what is making you weak."

"Beware, for I am fearless, and therefore powerful."

"Hmm. Shelley?" Weiss asked, glancing over her shoulder. She had spotted the other girl reading on occasion, but didn't know how well-read the girl would actually be. Girly romance novels were hardly literary masterpieces.

"Frankenstein, the first zombie."

Weiss snorted. "Frankenstein's monster. But you're wrong. He's more like a golem. Try the Epic of Gilgamesh, there is a mention of flesh eating undead." The home-schooled and very intelligent heiress snorted at the utterly shocked look on Blake's face. "I'm exceptionally read and I have an IQ three standard deviations higher than average."

Blake snapped her jaw closed with an audible clack, her face growing neutral. "Sorry, I knew that you were smart. It's just that all I've heard about you recently is that you party and sleep with lots of girls."

"You've clearly been talking with Yang. It's true, but it was only these last two years."

"Ever since your mother passed."

Weiss froze and turned to examine the other girl intently. The bleeding heart hippie apparently didn't fail to keep up with the news, but it was still disconcerting how much Blake knew about her. "Yes. Since then."

The black-haired girl stayed noticeably silent.

"I've been drifting through choppy seas." Weiss' eyes darted over to rest on Ruby, who was across the store emptying bottled water into a canteen. "I've found an anchor. I'm back and ready to be exceptional again. It's just now that means kicking zombie ass. What about you? Are you gonna woman up?"

There was no answer. A soft touch brushed against Weiss' arm. She glanced down at the hand resting on her shoulder, then up to Blake, who looked ready to cry.

"I'm sorry that happened to your family."

Weiss jolted, then relaxed and shrugged. "It's not like you had anything to do with it." The heiress paused for a moment before giving a reassuring squeeze to the girl's hand. "But thank you."

"What's going on here?" A voice suddenly growled from behind them. Yang was standing with her hands on her hips, towering over the shorter girl.

"Getting to know each other," Blake said before Weiss could answer. "I think we'll get along better than I thought."

* * *

"What do you think they're talking about?" Yang asked, staring out at Blake and Weiss as they chatted.

"Books or something? I don't know, but it's nice that everyone's getting along."

Yang nodded, staring daggers at Weiss. _She _was supposed to be the one walking beside Blake. It was bad enough that the ice queen of the lesbians was all over her sister, but now it was her girlfriend, too?

Blake seemed to be enjoying talking to the heiress; Yang wasn't really much of a reader. Sometimes it bothered her how little Blake and her actually had in common. It wasn't like they couldn't have deep conversations, but their major interests didn't really overlap all that well.

It bothered her more because their relationship started in a very physical place. They were moderately close, if somewhat odd friends in public, and behind closed doors they rarely did much talking.

_'Blake isn't the kind of girl to cheat, you know that. Besides,' _Yang thought, glancing down at the place she most contrasted with the heiress, _'Weiss and I are like night and day.'_

Yang found herself drifting off while her eyes drifted down her girlfriend's body. It hadn't been all that long, but she was missing that 'physical' part of their relationship. Between the camp and traveling with her sister and Weiss, Yang was struggling to ever get the right mood going.

Her eyes settled, watching the black-haired girl's behind as she walked down the road. It was one of the things that caught Yang's attention in the first place; Blake always had a catwalk worthy saunter no matter where she was.

Yang shook her head to derail that train of thought; it would only frustrate her. She glanced over and saw Ruby's eyes shaded, directed down at a similar place on Weiss. They were half-sisters but so much alike. Yang stayed quiet until she saw Ruby lick her lips.

She cleared her throat, causing Ruby to jump a little. The younger sister rubbed at the back of head and blushed. "Uh– well–,"

Yang hesitated then smiled.

Ruby's eyes dropped again, this time staring at the road. "Yang, you– you really don't mind that I'm a lesbian, right?"

"Of course. You're my little sister and I love you." Yang reached out and tousled the shorter girl's hair. "I just wished you had better taste in women."

Ruby's eyes narrowed slightly. "She's actually really nice, sort of. You shouldn't just write her off." Ruby crossed her arms. "She just doesn't open up to other people easily. But she's secretly a sweet and kind person."

Yang patted her younger sister's head. "Someday you'll see her for what she really is. She's not good enough for you."

Ruby lost her usual cheery demeanor as they continued to follow the other two girls in silence.

* * *

By the middle of the day, a light drizzle spread out over the road. Ruby handed out umbrellas, but soon enough the gates of the sky opened too wide, releasing droplets so heavy they couldn't protect themselves from the splatter. Each hit the earth with such force that the noise of the zombies was finally drowned out for the first time in their existence. Blake took a deep breath of air cleaned by the water, happy to not be smelling rotting flesh. But she couldn't exactly feel elated as the water got on her clothes; she began to sulk, batting absentmindedly at the little loop on that hung from her umbrella.

It was hard to see through the rain and a building snuck up on her. She jolted and glanced up, and her lips stretched into a little smile. She stared up at the familiar overhang. Ocean World. The sign loomed over her, an odd dull specter of its former neon glory, cast in shadows and being pummeled by the rain.

"Let's cut through," she said, turning to the other girls. "We can get out of the rain, and there's an exit in the back. It'll save us time."

"I guess that's a good plan," Ruby said, nodding in agreement. "It might be full of them though, we can't really tell." Her eyes examined the solid metal turnstiles just beyond the glass doors.

"That's the beauty of it– they were closed for renovations when this happened." Blake pointed at a sign giving a date when the aquarium would reopen. "No guests."

"Uh– I don't know–,"

"Oh come on Ruby, we could get sick if we let ourselves stay in this too long," Yang said. She gave Blake a little wink. Her girlfriend knew how much she hated the rain.

"Why are you so hesitant?" Weiss asked.

"I'm not, it's okay. We can go in, I guess. If you're okay with danger." Everyone just stared her down. "Fine, whatever. We'll need to split up once we're inside."

"What?" Blake asked, unable to hide the incredulous tone in her voice. "I thought you were supposed to be a survival expert. Isn't not splitting up horror story 101?"

"They're zekes, not axe murderers. It's safer if we separate and spread them out. I'd rather have two of us fight twenty than all four of us fight forty. They grow more dangerous in bigger mobs. So, how about me and Yang–,"

"Yang, come with me," Blake interrupted, not letting Ruby ask the question she knew was coming.

Her girlfriend's eyes darted to Weiss and Ruby before she gave a hesitant nod.

* * *

Ruby's eyes scoured the aquarium. Walls of glass were on all sides, and she could feel beady little black eyes on her from every direction. The water was too murky and dark to see very far, but she knew what was there. Many might call her paranoid, but she knew better.

She didn't really notice that her stride grew shorter. Every time her eyes caught the dead gaze of a fish on her, a shiver went up her spine– but there were so many that she was shuttering.

She knew the dastardly little monsters was just biding their time until they were ready to break the glass and ruin her life forever. Ruby jolted when she spotted a small shark briefly pass by.

"Okay, what is wrong with you!?"

Ruby nearly toppled over when Weiss whirled around on her. "Nothing! Nothing at all!" she sputtered.

"Please, you're cowering like a child. There aren't even zombies around." Weiss crossed her arms and glared hard at her.

"It's nothing, just keep going."

"Are you afraid of the water?"

"Puh-lease. I'm not afraid of anything," she said with a half-hearted chuckle.

Something bumped against the glass and Ruby hopped off the ground for a brief moment. She glanced over to see a huge yellow tang eying her viciously. She glared back.

"Are you afraid of fish?"

Ruby stomped her foot and crossed her arms, indignation clear on her face. "No, of course not. That'd be silly."

"Okay then, go touch the glass."

Ruby glanced away from Weiss. She took a step towards the glass. Then another. Without the wailing of zombies she could hear her heart in her ears. As she got closer to the glass, the fish flapped its jaw and was joined by dozens of its brethren in a frantic frenzy.

A high pitched shriek rung out through the quiet air and Ruby darted back to squeeze against Weiss. She buried herself into the older girl, fear overcoming her embarrassment. Soft, reassuring arms wrapped around her back.

"Huh, I think they might be zombie fish."

Ruby couldn't manage to calm down, but she felt Weiss start to tug her along, so she just went with the flow. She couldn't see anything because her face was buried into Weiss neck, but when she heard the sound of a door closing she peeled herself away. They were standing in a supply closet, away from the devilish gaze of the aquarium's denizens.

Ruby couldn't even stand to look at Weiss. She backed away from the other girl until her back hit the door, then she slid down onto the ground. She could feel the heat in her face, so she pulled her knees up to hide her blush and tears. This wasn't something she ever wanted to talk about.

* * *

"Come on, just let me take care of it."

Blake shook her head, her fingers gripping tight onto the handle of her machete. Her amber eyes gave her adversary yet another once over.

He was a scientist of some sort; his starched white lab coat was stained with smatterings of blood. '_I wonder what he does? Perhaps a biologist?__'_ She wondered if a marine biologist would normally don the stereotypical garb of a scientist. '_Maybe a chemist?__'_

Her eyes dropped. His collar looked like it had been tugged loose in a scuffle but his tie was still straight. He must have been a stickler about clothing– no doubt meticulous about keeping himself in order. In death, his close shave was perfectly preserved.

A hand extended out to Blake. No doubt ready to grasp and pull at her, rather than asking for help like her altruistic spirit tried to make her think. Or maybe, in some perverse way, he was begging for salvation.

Blake zeroed in on a gold band on his ring finger. He was married. '_Did he have children too? Somewhere out there, __is__ there a family praying that he survived, __or ha__ve__ they suffered the same fate?__'_

"Blake!"

She took a step back as this man– in her imagination a faithful husband and beloved father of two, a boy and a girl– took a swipe at her.

She glanced over at Yang, who was gripping her axe with white knuckled ferocity. Blake lifted her blade, then brought it down in a hard swing.

Blake grimaced as she pulled the machete out of Thomas– he seemed like a Thomas, Papa Tom to his two kids and fun Uncle Tommy who worked at an aquarium to his imagined nephew and niece.

She ran her fingers through her mussed up hair, then let out a growl from deep in her throat. "What did I just do?" Her bloodstained machete dropping from her hands.

"You– eliminated a threat."

"I killed something."

"Blake, that monster was already dead."

"It doesn't matter. He once had a life, and I took it."

"Don't think like that."

"How can I not? I don't even kill spiders– I find a jar, scoop them up and release them in the yard. I've never hurt anything before and now I've– I've…"

"You can't compare one of those things to a harmless little spider."

Blake wasn't listening at this point. She pulled herself away from Yang, nabbed her machete off the ground, and slammed it into the skull of a zombie attempting to sneak up on Yang.

The second was admittedly easier than the first.

Yang just blinked away the shock as the second zombie toppled to the ground. Her mouth flapped a few times like the fish swarming against the glass all around her. "We should keep moving," she finally managed to say.

Blake nodded, allowing Yang to take the lead. They went a short distance down the hall, and the blonde girl's eyes stayed glued to the wall of fish following them.

"It's been forever since I've been to an aquarium." Yang said. "We never went when we were kids because… uh oh…"

"What?"

"It slipped my mind. Oh no. Ruby has a deathly phobia of fish."

"… what?"

* * *

"Okay, so fish."

"You're going to laugh at me, aren't you?"

"Of course not, you dunce."

Ruby nodded hesitantly. "When I was little, my uncle took me fishing on the Mississippi. Some jerks shot by in a motorboat and it riled up the asian carp. When a motor hits the water they shoot up, and these aren't sardines. These are really big fish. One of them hit me in the face and I blacked out. I guess I broke my jaw. Ever since that I just freak out a little around all fish. I don't like the smell either."

Ruby didn't want to talk about the headgear she had to wear, or all the kids who used to bully her about it.

"Now why would I laugh at that, you dolt," Weiss said with a smile, sitting beside the younger girl and wrapping an arm around the girl. "That's perfectly understandable. Why didn't you say something before we came into an aquarium?"

Ruby wiped the tears from her eyes. "I don't want to talk about–,"

Weiss held a finger over her lips and shushed her. Ruby half expected a jab at how childish she was being. But instead, Weiss was staring at her with concerned eyes. It brought half a smile to the younger girl. There were times she was scared that her heart was wrong and that Weiss wasn't just hiding a sweet center under her hard, sour candy exterior.

Weiss gripped Ruby's wrist and lifted it up so that the younger girl's hand was pressed again her cheek. Ruby felt the silky smooth skin beneath her fingertips. When she tried to slide her hand away, Weiss caught it again, pulling it and pressing her lips to Ruby's knuckles.

Weiss' eyes fluttered open and she smiled at Ruby. Without releasing Ruby's hand, Weiss tugged until Ruby took her lead and was pulled onto her lap. Soft fingers danced up Ruby's side, smoothly sweeping up until they rested on the sensitive skin of her neck.

Weiss planted a kiss on the younger girl's forehead before stealing her lips. Ruby tried to free her wrist so she could feel Weiss' skin, but the other girl just gripped her tighter.

Ruby sighed, then dove in, unable to resist tasting more of Weiss' sweet mouth. The white-haired girl's free hand disappeared in between them. Ruby pulled away, watching slender, pale fingers as they wrestled with the button fly of Weiss' jeans.

"Weiss, I–," Ruby said before she was silenced by another sweet kiss.

She felt Weiss begin to guide her hand down. Ruby could feel her pulse as it thundered in her chest and radiated all the way down to the tips of her fingers as they drew closer and closer to the forbidden border where skin and cloth met.

But Ruby still wasn't sure. She was a lot more comfortable with the thought of being the one touching instead of being touched, but she was still hesitant. The pounding of her heart in her ears and the endless waltz of their tongues made it hard for Ruby to make a definitive decision.

A solid pound on the door made it for her.

Ruby split herself away from her very insistent partner. "Do you hear that moaning?"

"It hasn't even started yet," Weiss answered, her eyes glassy until there was another pound on the door. "These damn things just ruin everything."

* * *

"Can you hurry it up? I need to find Ruby."

Blake nodded as she hopped the counter of a concession stand. She began to dig through the boxes and the trays of packaged foods. There seemed to be very little left, and it soon dawned on her. They didn't stock during the reconstruction.

"Come on, she's probably freaking out and she's only got Weiss with her."

"Just give me a second." Panic was starting to settle over Blake as she dug deeper and deeper. She crouched and started throwing open the cabinets below the counter.

"What is so important back there!"

Blake released an aggravated roar as she swept her hands along the counter, sending everything careening to the ground.

"Whoa."

"Will you just shut up!" Blake was taking deep heavy breaths. "I'm so sick of all of this! There are zombies everywhere, my girlfriend is too busy trying to keep her sister a virgin to pay me any attention– and I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that ship has already sailed– and they're out of god damn tuna snack packs!"

"Are you serious? You made us come in here so you could get your tuna fix?"

"It's not just tuna, alright." Blake crossed her arms as she finally started to calm down. "When I was a kid, I grew up bouncing from foster home to foster home. No matter where they put me I'd always run away and sneak in here. I could be sad, depressed, angry– but I'd swipe a tuna snack pack and watch the dolphins and I'd always feel better. With everything going on, I kind of needed that feeling again."

Yang nodded, tugging Blake into a gentle embrace. "I'm sorry that it didn't work out. We'll get you that tuna, I swear. Now come on, let's go find the others."

* * *

"Alright, blindfold off."

Ruby nodded, releasing Weiss' hand and lifting the night mask that had been blacking out her vision. She took in the new environment; they were in an open air amphitheater with a large pool in the center, but most importantly there was not a fish in sight. Their disgusting stench still fouled the air, but out of sight, out of mind. Ruby finally could release a sigh of relief as she approached the pool.

"Well, I guess we just have to wait for Yang and Blake."

"You don't think less of me do you?" Ruby asked, turning around to face the other girl.

Weiss jolted, looking slightly taken aback. "What? Where did that come from?"

"I was just wondering."

"Well of course not. I think nothing of you to begin with."

"Oh." Ruby just toyed with her hands behind her back and carefully studied her foot as it launched an assault on the ground.

"Gah, you're being so irritating. Somethings bothering you. Spit it out."

"No."

"You're such a kid! I can't believe I almost let you–,"

Ruby cheeks flushed red and she clapped a hand over Weiss' mouth. She held tight for a moment, then pulled it away slightly.

"Fing–,"

This time she used both hands to silence Weiss, earning a glare from the other girl. "Fine, I'll tell you, but you aren't allowed to be gross anymore." She slowly released her grip.

"You're right. You aren't even close to ready. Get to it."

"I didn't want you to know I was afraid of anything."

"That's dumb. Who isn't afraid of something?"

"I know. But I also know that you stick around because you expect me to be able to protect you."

"Oh. I get it." Weiss reached out grabbed Ruby's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You excel at idiocy. I'm not some delicate little snowflake or a damsel in distress. We're partners for each other's mutual benefit. Our little consortium is and always will be even transaction, and that you think otherwise is, quite frankly, insulting."

"Sorry," Ruby said, shrinking down into herself.

Weiss tugged her into a hug. "I'm staying with you because I care about you, alright? Now stop being an idiot."

Ruby cracked a smile as they pulled apart, but then it dropped off. "Oh I know that face. What's behind me this time?"

There wasn't an answer; Weiss just grabbed onto Ruby, wheeling her away from whatever was behind her. As she fell, Ruby caught a glimpse of a pale gray flash. It impacted them so hard Ruby could feel it through Weiss.

They were sent crashing to the ground hard. Ruby scrambled away, holding tight to Weiss' limp body. A dry, low croak came from her feet. Flapping on the ground, moving inch by inch towards them was a dead-eyed zombie dolphin.

"Ruby! Weiss!"

The two other girls sprinted up beside them. Yang took one look at the flailing monstrosity before firing her shotgun into it. A shiver ran from the tips of her toes to the ends of her hair before she turned back to the other girls. "Okay, that felt way worse than killing a zombie."

Ruby took a few deep breaths before sitting up and adjusting Weiss. "Come on, wake up. You're fine, right?" She swept her hand through her hair. "You've got to be fine. Why did you have to go and do that?"

Ruby did her best to cradle the limp body of the unconscious girl and began to rock her gently.

Yang laid a hand on her sister's shoulder. "You've got to put her down. We have to make sure she's okay."

Ruby looked up at her with tears in her eyes. "Is she good enough for me now!?"


End file.
